UNDERTALE: Frisk's Adventure
by ZephyrBlu
Summary: A simple retelling of the True Pacifist route (spoiler alert galore!), Frisk, an eight-year-old boy, falls into the Underworld with nothing but a slingshot, a locket, and his own determination. Now, Frisk must befriend the monsters of the Underworld, solve various problems, and find a way to free the monsters. EDIT: Story is moving to Deviantart!
1. Prologue: Once Upon a Tale

**[PROLOGUE]** **Once Upon a Tale...**

* * *

 _A long time ago..._

 _Two races co-existed peacefully on the earth: the Humans and the Monsters. They once all lived on the upper part of the Earth, known as the Surface, where many humans and monsters thrived._

 _However, a conflict broke out between the humans and monsters. Soon, the minor conflicts grew into a small war, now known as the Surface War. The humans and monsters fought fiercely on both sides, hoping to claim the right to rule over the Surface._

 _In the end, the humans gained victory over the monsters, who were unfairly weaker physically than humans. The humans drove the monsters into the depths of the lower part of the Earth, known as the Underground, and had seven young hearts, who learned magic of the monsters, create a magic barrier that held the monsters trapped in their prison: Mount Ebott._

 _The humans continued to rule over the Surface, but developed a fear of the trapped monsters, fearing that, one day, the monsters would find the way to break the Barrier and take revenge on them. To prevent humans from nearing Mount Ebott, the adults told the children that they would disappear forever if they headed for Mount Ebott._

* * *

 **UNDERTALE: Frisk's Adventure**

* * *

Mount Ebott. It was a quiet spot; a tall peak lush with bright green, blooming with flowers in the spring. Though it was highly suggested against to go and scale this particular mountain, the view from Mount Ebott was incredible. You could see the towering buildings of East Metro, the neighboring peak of Mount Phinn to the west, and the glistening waters of the sea beyond your eyes.

Near Mount Ebott, sitting a mere five miles from the foot of the mountain, was a small human town called Ebottville, named after the famous mountain. In this town, it was quiet, as little activity happened much. It was a fairly small community, with only four schools, two libraries, several small stores, and a hospital. A good place for eating was the nearby diner, The Ebott Diner, where the food is homemade and cooked to a delicious taste.

Two young boys, both friends and adoptive brothers, lived in this small town. The boys' names were Jacob and Frisk.

Jacob had shaggy blond hair, wore a green tee, and blue jeans. Jacob was confident, adventurous, but also kind and caring. His sense for adventures usually involved dragging Frisk with him everywhere he went, usually to Mount Ebott, despite Frisk's opinion. However, Jacob found ways to help others when they were down, helping them feel better.

Jacob was Frisk's adopted older brother, being only a year older than Frisk. Jacob never really knew his parents, since they both perished in an unsuspecting house fire. He was lucky to have survived, but had to live in an orphanage for a short while. He was adopted by Frisk and his mother when Jacob was three years of age.

Frisk was a timid young fellow, but well-mannered, friendly, and willing to help others. He had short brown-auburn hair that was a little messy, and was originally the shirt-and-overalls kid. He loves his adopted brother much, even if Frisk gets dragged into Jacob's adventure games. In school, Frisk was a target for bullies because of his timid nature, but Jacob always stands up for his adoptive little brother against Frisk's aggressors.

Frisk's parents, Lori and Eric Young, loved Frisk greatly; however, Eric had died in a car accident, leaving Frisk and Lori without any financial support. They had to live off welfare to survive in their original home in South City. Sometime after Jacob was adopted, Lori decided to move to Ebottville to live with her mother, Granny Aubrey Young, hoping to find better support there.

The boys loved living in the calm, quiet community of Ebottville. The boys would go hiking on Mount Ebott, going on picnics with their mother and grandmother, swimming in the nearby ocean, or even eating pie on special, starry nights. However, they pale in comparison to the best part of living in Ebottville: Granny Aubrey telling stories of when she was a young girl, especially before the Surface War. She revealed about a hidden entrance into the depths of the mountain, where the children disappeared into. Both boys enjoyed the stories, but Jacob enjoyed the stories most; he always talked of one day being able to free the monsters, bringing peace to the Surface.

Unfortunately, such joyous times came with a heavy price. On the day before Jacob's fifth birthday, Jacob himself began to feel severely ill. When the family took Jacob to the hospital, the doctors revealed a shocking revelation: Jacob had leukemia. The doctors stated that Jacob had leukemia since he was a small infant since his immune system was poorly developed, but it was greatly weaker then; but now, the illness had reached a severe point of concern. Jacob would need treatment and be hospitalized to lower the risk of the leukemia advancing.

Frisk felt terrible for Jacob's condition, but Jacob constantly reassured Frisk that he would be fine, and they'll be able to go on picnics and hikes again. During Jacob's time in the hospital, Jacob and Frisk would play games, talk about their day, schoolwork, retold themselves Granny's stories, and even ate lunch together. Though Frisk felt a little better, his heart still felt heavy.

After four months of hospitalization, Jacob had recovered enough to leave the hospital, but Jacob's leukemia was still active, requiring close attention for any new progression. This prevented Jacob from playing outside much, as he would get dizzy, greatly tired, or get fevers, and wound up being confined to his bed. Jacob wasn't bothered by his leukemia, but Frisk still harbored greatly concern for his ailing health. During that time, Frisk would help Jacob be comfortable in his bed, give his medicine, and assist Jacob when he felt nauseous.

By the time Frisk turned five, Jacob's ill spells and dizziness grew slightly intense, with Jacob's face becoming pale, him breaking into a cold sweat, and barfing into trash bins. Lori, worried sick for Jacob, pulled him from school until he made full recovery. Frisk still felt worried, yet Jacob reassured his younger brother and ignored his current condition.

As Jacob reached the age of six, his leukemia grew less severe, though it remain severe, getting slight illness or nausea. Frisk began to feel better, seeing his adopted brother recover from a lengthy period of leukemia. Jacob and Frisk continued on with their daily lives, going on short hikes, playing catch, and going butterfly catching.

Though joy had returned to their lives, this joy would soon fade away once more...

* * *

 **3 YEARS PRIOR TO THE PRESENT DAY...**

* * *

It was a brisk, sunny August day. Frisk, Jacob, and their guardians had decided to have a picnic on Mount Ebott, specifically in a special spot the boys called "The Outlook", since it looked out upon the town, the sea, Mount Phinn, and East Metro. The Outlook was littered with a few trees, with one tree, a big oak tree, being a unique one out of the elm trees there. The Outlook had two nearby cave openings: one had a faded stone door within it, near the oak tree, and a second cave farther to the right of the Outlook, which Frisk and Jacob never explored before.

"Come on, Frisk! I know you can get up the path!" Jacob yelled teasingly at Frisk, who was weakly running up a steep path, huffing with a shortness of breath.

"Huff, huff..." Frisk wheezed, "Okay, I've managed to catch... huff... up... Can we rest for a moment?" Frisk fell to his knees in exhaustion, his head covered a bit of sweat. "It isn't easy hiking up the path in the August heat, y'know," Frisk managed to huff out.

"Yeah, it's a real scorcher!" Jacob replied, before pointing towards their guardians, sitting on a picnic blanket, "Anyways, Mom's already got the food ready, and Granny might tell us a story while we eat!"

Frisk simply beamed from ear to ear. Granny's stories never really got old on the boys; they were always dying to hear more of the monsters' lives before the Surface War, and Granny's wisdom on things or ideas the boys were unknowing or unsure of.

"That sounds... huff... great!" Frisk gasped, breathing heavily.

After eating some ham sandwiches and chips, the two boys cleaned the mess quickly, sitting back down to hear Granny's tales and pieces of wisdom. She simply chuckled with delight.

"Alright, my little munchkins," Granny began, "what would you like to hear about today?"

The boys thought about what they wanted to hear about. Soon, Frisk spoke up, "Can you tell us about SOULS?"

"Well, now!" Granny chuckled, "You want to know more about souls? Well, that's something I've wanted to tell you youngsters about!"

"Yeah, Granny," Jacob piped, "what are souls?"

Granny cleared her throat. "Well, it's a little difficult to explain them..." she joked.

The boys sat patiently, waiting for their grandmother to continue. She simply chuckled softly.

"Let's see now," Granny began calmly, "souls are the very thing every living being has. It allows us to feel love, keep us alive, and provide us with strange powers.

The boys muttered in excitement over this, then quieting down to hear Granny again.

"However," she continued, "human souls and monster souls are rather different. Monster souls are very fragile, and do not persist long after death, unless it was a Boss Monster, but those souls only persist for only a short time. However, human souls don't disappear easily; they last even after the original owner of that soul has passed on. Both types of souls usually disperse the last of their energy to revitalize the very Earth we walk."

The two boys simply listened carefully with eagerness.

"A human soul usually has a special color that represents its main virtue. Some represent bravery, some kindness, others long for justice; however, there is one virtue that is semi-common, yet unique, even to this day: DETERMINATION."

"Determination?" Frisk puzzled.

"Determination," Granny answered, "is a virtue of mysterious nature. Every human soul has determination, but an individual whose soul represents Determination strongest have enough to even resist death, and give them other powers I'm not even aware of."

"Wow!" Jacob said with awe, "That's so cool!"

Granny frowned a bit. "Unfortunately, these powers can be dangerous if used for impure purposes. If the person who wields it has pure intentions, it will benefit others; those with tainted desires will bring harm to all."

Silence simply brushed over the two awestruck boys. Jacob stifled a small cough.

"Some people," Granny began with a smile, "have the ability to see the soul of a person, be it monster or human. I am one of such people."

"That's awesome!" Jacob said with vigor, "Can you tell us what our souls are like, Granny? Please?"

Granny laughed heartily. "Alright. Let's see now... Jacob, your soul is a rare color: silver. Silver represents Compassion the strongest. Frisk..." Granny paused a moment before becoming surprised a bit. "Frisk, you have a red soul. You strongly represent Determination!"

Jacob was stunned, and so was Frisk. Frisk never realized that he had a soul of determination within him. He was both anxious and excited, he couldn;t even bring himself to describe how he felt about having a powerful soul.

"What's your soul like, Granny?" Frisk asked with wonder.

"My soul," Granny replied, "is gold, which means I strongly represent Honesty. I've never shown a shred of dishonesty to anyone in my life, nor becoming ignorant about the true nature of a person."

Jacob and Frisk nodded with amazement. Granny spoke truly, as she never went out of her way to hurt others feelings with constant lies. She really did have a heart of gold.

After the story, however, Jacob began to cough hard. His face began to turn very pale.

"Jacob!? Are you okay!?" Frisk panicked.

"I-I-I'm f-fine..." Jacob whispered weakly.

"Jacob...!" Lori gasped.

Jacob fainted, his breathing get weak and his heart racing wildly. Frisk's eyes only saw fear at what he had once witnessed only months ago: the attack of Jacob's leukemia.

 _Oh no... Not this again...!_ Frisk thought in deep fear.

* * *

It had been only two dreaded weeks since that fateful afternoon. Jacob had landed himself back in the hospital once again; his leukemia had become active once again, but more severe than the previous time. The doctors showed much concern for Jacob ailing health, noting that his immune system was weaker than before; they concluded he might have a slim chance of surviving his leukemia.

That chance was much slimmer than they thought...

* * *

On a cold September afternoon, Frisk and his mother came to visit their sickened family member. Upon entering the room where he stayed, one could see Jacob in bed, barely awake, rigged to several machines, and a nurse constantly caring for him.

Frisk entered the room, silently and nervously; he saw his ailing brother confined to the hospital bed, bringing more fear and worry into his eyes. Jacob slowly turned his head towards his adoptive brother, smiling underneath the respirator mask he wore.

"H-h-hey, Frisk..." Jacob weakly said.

Frisk was silent. He was at a loss for a response. What could he even say to his brother, who was constrained to his bed, seriously, maybe fatally, ill? He shuffled quietly up to his brother's hospital bed. He extended his arms, gift in his hands, towards Jacob.

"What's this?" Jacob said, coughing a bit.

"It's... a small get-well gift... for you..." Frisk whispered, his voice rather shaky.

Jacob let out a small chuckle. He took the small gift, a small box wrapped in silver paper and topped with a blue bow. It was lightweight, and when Jacob shook it lightly, a faint rustle came from the box.

"... go ahead and open it... please..." Frisk squeaked, a tear welling up in his eye. His mouth contorted into a weak smile.

Jacob carefully unwrapped the gift, revealing a small black box. Opening the box, he found a small silver locket, its main decoration being a silver heart. Jacob read its little inscription: "Compassion".

"It... is a fine... gift. Thanks, brother..." Jacob coughed, a bit of blood showing, "...R-really describes m-me well..." The machine rigged to Jacob to check his pulse began to beep slower.

"J-Jacob-!" Frisk weakly screeched in horror.

The nurse caring for Jacob began to phone for a doctor. "Yes, he's in Room 205B in the left wing! His pulse is faltering!"

"Jacob, I'm scared that... that... that you're not gonna make it this time!" Frisk quivered with fright.

At that moment, Jacob gathered his remaining strength, and placed his hand on his frightened brother's shoulder. He pulled the young boy closer, embracing a small hug to comfort the boy.

"Frisk..." Jacob replied with calm reassurance, "... I need to tell you something that I've wanted to tell you before..."

Frisk began to fell his throat tighten and his eyes welling up with tears.

"I've always wondered about what it's like to see the Underworld... to meet a monster..." Jacob coughed more severely, "Do you remember the cave on Mount Ebott, farthest from the Outlook... Granny told me once... that it leads deep down into the Underworld..."

Frisk began to whimper, but Jacob patted his head and smiled.

"I've dreamt of going to the Underworld... and freeing the monsters from the Underworld... but it seems like I won't..." Jacob paused a bit. "If you ever end up there... please... free the monsters f-for me... and keep Mom... and Granny... safe..."

Jacob weakly handed the locket to Frisk, who took it in his hands.

"Listen closely... take my soul... and keep it in the locket... keep them both with you.. no matter what..." Jacob said, his voice beginning to fade, "... maybe my soul may serve you well..." Jake smiled. "Good... bye... Frisk... I love you... as my brother... forever..."

Jacob weakly coughed, then his eyes closed, his chest relaxing. The machine straight-lined. Silence rang out throughout the hospital, with only the constant whine of the straight-lining pulse machine being audible.

Frisk soon collapsed to his knees, beginning to sob uncontrollably. Frisk's mother, Lori, and a doctor came in, both seeing Jacob lying peacefully and lifeless in the bed, Frisk sobbing into the covers.

Frisk's mother quietly walked over, tears forming in her own eyes. She knelt beside Frisk, hugging him to comfort both him and her of losing their most loved family member: an adopted, but caring son and faithful brother.

As Jacob's lifeless body laid on the bed, his soul, a silver heart, appeared, floating into the air for a bit. Frisk managed to gather enough confidence to gently grab the soul, pulling it down close to him and his mother.

"...he wanted me to keep it with me... to protect me..." Frisk whimpered sorrowfully, his hands soon placing the soul carefully inside the locket, infusing the locket with Jacob's soul, its power of Compassion.

Frisk, soon after placing the soul in the locket, grasped it close to his heart. He broke into tears, burying his face deep into his mother's arms, who attempted to comfort him over the loss of his only sibling.

While he didn't know it, Frisk's soul sparked a red glow: a glow of Determination. A determination that would manifest within time.

* * *

After the hospital incident, Jacob's nurse walked solemnly towards the post office, with a small, wooden box in her hand. She was instructed to have the box delivered to a specific address within a period of three years time.

Inside the box was a note and a item of importance within three years.

* * *

 **PRESENT DAY**

* * *

It was a brisk September day, the sun shining behind a thick wall of clouds. In Ebottville, the streets were quiet, with the occasional barking dog or group of kids playing in backyards. A school bus stopped near the home of Frisk. Frisk walked off the bus, heading into his house as the school bus continued on its route.

As Frisk entered his home, he was greeted by Granny, who was sitting in the living room reading some old novels, some written by monsters prior to the Surface War, and his mom, who was baking a butterscotch-cinnamon pie for a dessert (Frisk's favorite).

"Hello, grandchild!" Granny said in a jovial tone.

"Hello, sweetie." Lori said heartily, "A package arrived for you today. It's in your room."

Frisk's face displayed wonder and curiosity. _A package? That's odd, I don't remember anyone telling me about a package..._ he thought, walking into his room. "Thank you for the heads up, Mom!" Frisk responded politely, entering his bedroom.

Frisk's room was a small room, containing two beds, a dresser, a toy box, wardrobe, and a desk with a lamp and a cup full of pencils. The room originally housed Jacob, but afterwards, the second bed was left in a neat, made manner. Sitting on Frisk's bed was a small wooden box, labeled "To: Frisk Young".

"Weird," Frisk mumbled to himself, setting his school pack on his bed, "this package has no sender identity..."

Picking up the package, Frisk walked over to his desk. He set the box down and opened it. Inside was a note and a slingshot. Picking up the note first, Frisk read the note:

 _Dear Frisk,_

 _I've told my nurse to withhold this item_

 _until three years passed._

 _I figured that my time was near,_

 _so I left this for your future quest._

 _Use this only when you can't spare them._

 _-Jacob (age 4)-_

When Frisk saw the name, he crumpled the note and toss it at the wall. His eyes glistened of sorrow. It had been three years since Jacob had passed away, and Frisk barely had the spirit to talk about the touchy subject.

He calmed himself, then proceeded to grab the slingshot. It was a wooden slingshot, inscribed with Jacob's name in marker, sturdy in its build. "Even before now, Jacob thought of this beforehand?" Frisk mumbled, "But why?"

Frisk shuffled over to where the crumpled note laid, picked it up, and smoothed it out again. He turned it over, seeing another piece of the note:

 _Frisk,_

 _if I don't live to see the monsters go free,_

 _then take this slingshot and travel to Mount Ebott._

 _Go free 'em for me._

 _~Jacob_

Frisk just sat in silence for a while. Soon, he made a crucial decision.

* * *

After a while, Frisk changed out of his school clothes and into more comfortable clothes: a blue shirt with purple stripes, blue-gray shorts, and brown leather boots. Grabbing the silver locket, he walked out of his room, towards the kitchen. His mother was still cooking, this time it was soup.

"Hey, Mom?" Frisk asked quietly.

"Yes, Frisk?"

"May I go to Mount Ebott for a bit. I want to visit our old picnic spot for a bit."

Lori hesitated, but calmly replied. "Yes, but be back before dinnertime."

After that, Frisk grabbed a dark blue-grey hoodie to keep him warm, and walked towards Mount Ebott, with his slingshot in his hand.

* * *

After a while, Frisk arrived at the Outlook. It looked the same as before, but the Outlook had one new addition: Jacob's grave. Frisk walked over to the gravestone. He told his mom that Jacob would've wanted to buried here, so that he could watch from Mount Ebott peacefully. He smiled.

"Hey, Jacob," Frisk said to himself, though he pretended that Jacob was listening, "it's been rough these past few years. Mom's been working from home, though she still feels upset from losing you. Granny's doing fine, but she hasn't been in the mood for her stories much. I want to let you know that I'm doing fine. I've been doing well in school and I've got some good friends. I wish you were still here though..."

Frisk sat in silence for a moment. He looked at the locket, smiling.

"I've taken good care of your locket and soul. It's kept me from losing hope and I feel that your compassion is having a good effect on us all. Especially my good friends..."

Frisk stood up, then smiled again at the gravestone.

"Also, thanks for the slingshot. It's nice and well-made."

A boom of thunder startled Frisk, who looked up at the sky, noticing that clouds had rolled in. Rain began to pour down hard, Frisk clutching both the locket and slingshot, and began running towards some shelter: the farthest cave from the Outlook. He would've ran back home, but the rain made the path muddy and slippery, making it treacherous to scale down.

After running for a few minutes, slipping occasionally on a mud patch, Frisk reached the unexplored cave, the one Granny had spoken of that lead into the Underworld. Catching his breath, Frisk looked outside, seeing the rain come down harder. Frisk was slightly drenched, mainly near his head area.

"Crud, this storm's gonna last a while. And dinnertime's almost here." Frisk grumbled, "Man, I'm gonna miss dinner and have Granny and Mom mad at me."

Frisk turned his vision to the cave's interior. The cave was pretty bare, with rocky formations and several vines. Near Frisk's location was a large pit, where a howling, cool wind blew from. The air was stale, but Frisk didn't mind.

"I wonder," Frisk muttered, "if I just take a quick peek at the pit..."

Frisk began to walk towards the pit, swallowing hard. His hands shook nervously, clutching the locket and slingshot tight. Sweat broke out on Frisk's forehead, despite the cave being cool as the rain. As he inched closer to the gaping hole, the wind howled louder, the rain becoming a soothing rumble.

However, Frisk wasn't paying attention to where he was stepping. As he was very close to the pit, his foot snagged onto a vine, tripping Frisk. Frisk lost his balance and fell forward. However, there was no ledge to grab onto, so Frisk fell into the pit.

"Augh!" Frisk screamed as he fell deep into the mountain, "Jacob, Mom, Granny... someone! Help me!"

Frisk fell far down the chasm, the wind howling past him as he continued his descent. As he fell, he gripped both the locket and the slingshot tight.

Frisk soon began to cry, believing that once he hit the bottom, he'd never see the light of day again. Afterwards, he passed out. Unbeknownst to him, Frisk's unconscious body landed softly on a patch of golden flowers. As he laid there, unconscious, the wind became a gentle, stiff breeze.

Thus, Frisk's journey, his Undertale, had begun.

* * *

 _ **AUTHOR'S NOTE**_

Welcome, one and all, to Undertale: Frisk's Quest!

So, this is practically my telling of the Pacifist Run, so expect there to be headcanon AU things in this fanfiction, mainly the things that account for a truly True Pacifist Ending.

There will be many changes, and most of the dialog in the fanfiction will stay as truthful to the original game as possible, but I cannot make a definite promise there!

I would put more into this author's note, but I'm tired, so the only final thing here is that this version of the prologue is a rewritten version (the official version of the prologue) since the original had details that were rather dull or easily dismissive, or it contained little supporting detail.

I hope you all enjoy this story, as I enjoy writing for a great game such as this! :)

 **DISCLAIMER: I do not own Undertale! Undertale is owned entirely by Toby Fox. Certain characters, like Jacob, belong to me. This is a non-profit, fan-based story! Don't judge me!**

 _ **Zephire98 - "Reading this chapter fills you with DETERMINATION! However, I have a heart of integrity!"**_


	2. Chapter 1: Under the Mountain

**[CHAPTER ONE] Into the Mountain, Through the Ruins...**

* * *

 _It is stated, in various ancient texts,_

 _that the magic barrier which contains the monsters_

 _can be shattered with seven souls._

 _SEVEN HUMAN SOULS._

 _Each of the souls must be of a unique trait,_

 _possessing enough determination to shatter the magic._

 _Within the Underground lies seven forgotten souls,_

 _each one requiring its light to be rekindled,_

 _by one of a rare trait:_

 _HOPE._

* * *

 **UNDERGROUND - PRESENT DAY**

* * *

Frisk's eyes fluttered open, being slightly blinded by a bright light. He shielded his eyes as he sat up. Soon, he gradually began to make out his surroundings. He found that he was lying on a patch of golden flowers, and the patch was surrounded by several stone pillars covered by vines. The rest was pitch black.

"Owch..." Frisk winced, feeling a sting as he sat up.

Looking at his knee, he saw a bit of blood seeping from a gash. He winced from the pain of the gash. It wasn't serious, but it still stung like heck. Frisk dug his hands in his shorts' pockets, hoping to find something to cover the wound. He soon pulled out a small red bandage.

"Well, it's better than nothing..." Frisk whispered to himself.

He slowly stood up, still wincing from the slight pain. Walking around and searching the small area, Frisk found a small waterhole very close by. Frisk touched the water. It felt like ice to the touch, but at least the water was clean to use.

After cleaning his knee wound, Frisk placed the bandage on the gash firmly. It stung a bit, but Frisk didn't mind much. Frisk sat for a while to let the pain die down to a mild wince, then proceeded to stand up.

Frisk limped back to the flower patch to gather his things. As he picked up his locket and slingshot, Frisk heard a small voice moan nearby. In fact, it was close to Frisk's position. VERY close. Frisk looked up a little, and nearly lost his senses at what he saw before him. There, lying in the flower patch, back turned to Frisk, was another human.

This human's hair looked similar to Frisk's, but it was more straight and neat rather than messy and straight. They wore a long-sleeved shirt the color of limes, bearing a cream-colored stripe. Their hair was almost a dark red, but had a hint of light brown in it. The legs bore brown jeans and the feet brown shoes.

Frisk cautiously approached the presumably sleeping human.

"Um... Hello?" Frisk spoke quietly and cautiously, "Are... are you okay?"

" **GO... AWAY...** " the human replied, voice sharp and harsh.

Frisk backed away a bit, but then returned to his original position besides the human.

"... Do you need... um, help?" Frisk asked.

" **NO... JUST LEAVE ME ALONE...** " the human replied, voice slightly harsher.

"It's okay... I'm not going to hurt you. I want... to know if you're okay..."

The human paused for a moment, only sharply breathing in a quiet volume. "... I'm fine... thanks for asking..." the human replied, this time, the voice they used was much calmer, polite, and more child-like. It sounded a bit more masculine than feminine.

"Did you fall down here?"

The human slowly turn their head, revealing a round face with brown eyes that were tired-looking and tear-filled, a small nose, and tear-stained cheeks. They had been crying, or so Frisk could infer.

"I... I'm not too sure if I fell down here. I guess I did..." the human replied.

Frisk beamed with reassurance. "Don't cry. I think we can find a way out of here. Let me help you up."

Frisk grabbed the human's hand that was readily available, and gently pulled the human up. The human, surprisingly, stood as tall as Frisk, if not taller. Or shorter.

"So, what's your name? I'm Frisk."

The human simply stood looking at Frisk in silence.

"Don't you have a name?"

"... I'm not sure what's my name... My mind's in a haze..." the human muttered.

"Well, maybe I can help you re-"

"Wait, I think my name's... my name... is Chara..."

"Chara, hmm? That's a peculiar name..." Frisk wondered, "Anyways, nice to meet you, Chara!"

Frisk stuck his hand out in a manner to shake hands with the look-a-like boy, but Chara refused to shake hands at first. Then, Chara slowly grabbed Frisk's hand. Frisk lightly shook Chara's hand before letting go.

"Anyways, Chara," Frisk began to ask, "do you know a way out of this room?"

Chara pointed towards the far right of the room, which surprisingly had a door.

"I think you can leave through there." Chara stated, almost rather coldly.

"Thanks!" Frisk smiled. He begun walking towards the door, but stopped immediately. Turning around, Frisk hoped that Chara was following close behind, but to his amazement, Chara was standing in the same spot, but his back faced towards Frisk again. Frisk walked towards Chara and grabbed Chara's hand gently and tugged on him.

" **What are you doing!?** " Chara screeched suddenly, " **LEAVE ME ALONE!** "

Frisk recoiled back in hurtfulness. His eyes swelled with small tears. "I-I didn't mean to anger you. I just wanted t-to-"

" **WANTED TO WHAT!?** " Chara growled, his brown eyes becoming flaming red.

"-wanted to help you back to the Surface, too." Frisk replied, his voice more steady and confident, "I don't want to leave you here alone. Come with me! Maybe we can find a way back to the Surface together!"

Chara's eyes returned to their brown color. He simply let out a sigh.

"All right." he muttered. "Let's go, then. You'll just bother me until I go."

Frisk beamed from ear to ear, as he grabbed Chara's hand again and dashed off towards the door, Chara almost flying through the air. Chara's face conveyed an expression of shock and utter confusion at what was happening in the split second he said "yes" to Frisk's request.

* * *

Entering the next room, Frisk saw that this room was also pitch black, except for the center of the room, which a beam of light shone on a patch of grass. On the patch of grass, was a wilted-looking, golden-colored flower, similar to the ones in the flower patch in the previous room.

"That's a weird flower..." Chara grumbled.

"It looks pretty dry. Maybe it needs water?" Frisk whispered back, "Stay here, I'll go get some water!"

Just as Frisk began to head back into the next room, he suddenly heard a tiny voice pierce the silence.

"Huh? What the-!? Who's there!?"

Frisk froze for a bit, slowly turning around back towards the flower. The flower lifted its head slowly, stopping after a while. Suddenly, it looked up and Frisk silently gasped. The flower looked normal, except for the fact it had... a smiling face!

" **What the hey is that!?** " Chara shouted in surprise, " **Is this some sort of prank!?** "

"Oh! Howdy!" the flower said in a jovial, upbeat fashion, "You're a new face to the Underground, aren't you?"

Frisk simply nodded. Chara didn't even respond.

"Well, pleased to me, you! My name's Flowey! Flowey the Flower!" the flower replied happily.

"Flowey?" Frisk said, confused at this strange flower talking to him.

"Yeah, that's my name!" Flowey smiled.

" **I think we should get going, Frisk,** " Chara hissed, " **I'm not sure if we can trust this flower.** "

"What's your name, kid?" Flowey boomed.

Frisk attempted to say his name, but Flowey immediately interjected.

"Wait, I think I know you... Aren't you Chara?"

"Um, no. I'm Frisk. You must mean my friend here." Frisk pointed towards Chara, who simply glared at the flower.

"Well, pleased to meet you, Frisk!" Flowey smiled once more, then Flowey sported a look of confusion. "Um, where's your friend? I don't see him..."

"I have serious misgivings about this flower-like creature..." Chara spoke cautiously. He didn't exactly trust anything, even if it was a friendly, talking flower.

Flowey eyed the slingshot in Frisk's hands, frowning at the sight of the wooden weapon. "Is that your weapon?" he said curiously.

"Yeah, it's my weapon... I guess?" Frisk answered uncertainly.

"That's good," Flowey replied, "but can you defend yourself with a toy?"

Frisk barely nodded. He didn't exactly call the slingshot a weapon. Frisk didn't really want to use the slingshot at all, not even to harm even a single monster. Frisk wondered if Chara had a point about this flower.

"Well, I think you need some pointers if you want to survive down here, Frisk and... er, Chara!" Flowey replied, "it's dangerous especially with various monsters after you for your soul."

Frisk gulped silently.

" **Let's just ditch this freak show!** " Chara growled. Frisk shook his head.

"I think we should start with the basics!" Flowey exclaimed, "So, let me see your soul..."

Flowey paused for a moment, his smile fading into a frown once more.

"Huh," Flowey spoke with confusion, "I see two souls: a red soul and a silver soul. Is the silver soul your friend's soul?"

"The red soul is mine, yes," Frisk explained, "but the silver one... well, it's from a different friend who passed away long ago..." Frisk began to form tears.

"So, anyways," Flowey interrupted, "your soul is weak at first, but if you get LOVE, it'll grow stronger!"

"LOVE?" Frisk said with immediate confusion, "what's LOVE? I've heard of one love, but not another LOVE..."

"LOVE is what you get when you gain EXP," Flowey replied. "Let me show you how LOVE is gained...!"

Suddenly, white pellets appeared above Flowey and Frisk. Frisk stumbled backwards at the sight of them.

"Don't be afraid," Flowey said, his tone gaining a bit of smugness, "these are... uh... 'friendliness pellets'! Yeah, 'friendliness pellets'! These'll give you some LOVE. So, be sure to catch them!"

Frisk watched as the white pellets shot at him with fast speed. Frisk, somehow, didn't trust the sight of these pellets. So he decided to dodge the pellets, one by one.

"Hey, buddy! You missed them!" Flowey said, a bit of frustration in his voice. "Let's try this again!"

"Frisk, I think this flower's trying to **kill us,** " Chara whispered, "so, don't let those thing harm you. Afterwards-"

Again, white pellets appeared and shot at Frisk with high speeds. Frisk began to trust Chara: this flower didn't seem trustworthy.

Frisk dodged them as they blaze past him. One almost hit him in the arm. Luckily, Frisk was able to whack it away with his slingshot. The pellet bounced off, chipping a bit of the slingshot's wood. Frisk suddenly realized the dangers of these pellets.

"These are 'friendly' pellets, Flowey?" Frisk said with seriousness, "What kind of prank are you trying to-?" As Frisk turned around, he reeled back in fear when he saw Flowey's face. It had morphed from a warm smile into a frightening grin, his eyes becoming darker.

"I think you realized what's going on here... you IDIOT!" Flowey growled with frustration, "You seem to realize that I'm trying to kill you! If that's the game you're playing, then here's mine!"

Before Frisk could even say anything, he found Chara and himself surrounded by dozens of white pellets. Flowey simply chuckled with sadistic laughter.

"Let's play 'Kill the Idiot'!" Flowey yelled with sadistic fun, "DIE!"

The white pellets launched themselves towards Frisk. As Frisk watched his doom inch closer, Flowey simply laughed evilly. Frisk knew he was trapped in the ring of pellets, with no way out. He was going to die here, with Chara by his side. Frisk grasped his locket.

" **What are you doing!?** " Chara asked, voice almost demonic, " **We're about to be killed by this maniac of a plant!** "

"Please, Jacob," Frisk quietly prayed, "help me out of this mess. Send a guardian to save me!"

As Frisk did so, he noticed a small ring of flames surround him and Chara. He thought it was part of Flowey's attack, but the flame ring burnt the white pellets, and then extinguished themselves. Flowey stopped laughing when he noticed Frisk still standing.

"What!? How did you-!? Impossible!" Flowey screeched in frustration.

"I don't even know! Chara?"

"I didn't do that! I can't even cast magic!" Chara replied in a shocked frenzy.

"Then, who-?"

Suddenly, a single fireball appeared to the right of Flowey. Both Frisk and Flowey saw the fireball as it charged straight at Flowey. Both barely had time to react when the fireball hit Flowey, seemingly scorching him completely. As the smoke cleared, Frisk saw where Flowey once stood was a small, black spot.

"What... was that?" Frisk asked aloud.

"Probably the same thing that almost scorched us..." Chara replied.

"Just a taste of fire magic..." a feminine voice bellowed from the shadows.

Frisk and Chara turned to their right, where the fireball had come from. Stepping out from the darkness, they saw a tall, goat-like figure dressed in a pale-violet dress, its face fill with concern and worry.

"What a terrible creature it must have been," it said, "to torture such an innocent youth such as you."

The figure smiled with reassurance. Her smile was warm and friendly, similar to Frisk's mother and his Granny. Frisk was at a loss of words for a moment, so was Chara. Then, Frisk spoke to the monster before him.

"Who are you, ma'am?" Frisk asked politely.

"Such a well-mannered child! My name is Toriel Dreemurr, the guardian of the Ruins."

"Guardian... so, you're the one who protected me?"

Toriel nodded. Frisk simply hugged Toriel, which caught her off-guard for a bit.

"Thank you, Ms. Toriel." Frisk replied calmly, a slight tear forming in his eye.

"You're most welcome, child." Toriel replied back, before realizing her slight rudeness. "Forgive my rudeness a minute ago, but what is your name, child?"

"It's Frisk. Frisk Young."

"Frisk. What a nice name that is!" Toriel replied. "Did you fall here from the Surface?"

"Yes," Frisk replied.

Suddenly, a loud sound pierced the darkness. Frisk found it to be only his hungry stomach growling. "I'm a little hungry. It's supposed to be dinnertime for me, but I don't know where I can get home from here..."

Toriel tensed for a bit, unable to give an answer to the child's confusion, but then eased herself. "Well, Frisk, I can keep you in my home for the time being. I can't let you wander here without food or guidance!"

Frisk nodded in joy at the request.

"Well, then! Let's be off, shall we?" Toriel gestured towards the door behind her, which lead on to the next room.

Toriel headed through the door. Frisk almost followed suit before noticing Chara, who bore a face of confusion and concern on his face, almost to a point of shock. Frisk walked over to Chara.

"Something wrong, Chara?"

"That monster..." Chara replied weakly, "Toriel... she seems familiar to me... but I don't know how..."

"Well," Frisk answered back positively, "let's worry about that later and continue on towards Miss Toriel's home!"

Chara nodded, and the two boys walked through the door together, following after Toriel.

* * *

Frisk and Chara happened upon the next room, which was brightly lit by blazing torches. The walls were a bright shade of purple, possibly lavender in tone, and red leaves piled in front of a stone platform, which had steps leading to another door. Toriel stood on the stone platform, gesturing that Frisk follow her quickly, then walking through the door herself.

"Let's not keep her waiting," Chara remarked almost smugly.

"Geez," Frisk scoffed quietly, "a little courtesy, please?"

The two stopped bickering and headed up the stone steps. Upon going through the next door, they found themselves in a small room with a door to the left, but it was closed; several switches laid on the ground to the right, aligned in an orderly fashion.

Toriel cleared her throat and spoke gently. "Here, in the Ruins, there are various puzzles you must solve. There are simple puzzles that involve a button or a switch, but some are much more dangerous and complex."

Toriel gestured Frisk and Chara's eyes towards the switches.

"Here," she spoke once more, "allow me to demonstrate a puzzle."

Toriel proceeded to lightly step on the switches on the left and right of the middle row. She did not touch any of the switches in the middle. After pressing the switches, she pulled a lever on the wall in front of the switches. Immediately, the door on the left opened.

"Let's proceed, shall we?" Toriel spoke.

" **Pfft.** " Chara remarked rudely, " **That was a basic puzzle. We don't need any guidance here!** "

"Chara," hissed Frisk quietly, "don't be rude!"

"Hmm?" Toriel pondered aloud, having barely overheard Frisk's voice with her floppy goat ears, "Did you say something, Frisk?"

"Oh, um..." Frisk rambled nervously, face fire-engine red, "I was telling my friend here to be polite!"

Toriel's face contorted into confusion. She looked to where Frisk pointed, but saw no one in the immediate vicinity. Then, she realized that Frisk must be talking to an imaginary friend.

"Oh, you must mean your imaginary friend!" Toriel replied joyfully, "Well, I'm glad that you're showing him some manners! Let's continue if you're ready."

With that, Toriel headed into the next room. Frisk turned towards Chara, his face now the one sporting confusion.

"Chara," Frisk began, "Miss Toriel thinks that you're not real, that your an imaginary person. I wonder why she can't see you..."

"Beats me," Chara shrugged, "but I'm not in the mood to sit through her tutorials."

"Patience, my friend," Frisk barked, "It's an important virtue. Learn to use some."

Chara shut his mouth and proceeded into the room Toriel had recently retreated to, Frisk following close behind.

* * *

Frisk, in the next room, quickly solved a puzzle involving pulling certain levers, which lowered some spike traps blocking access to the next room. Frisk felt proud, though Chara was less enthused by Frisk's "accomplishment".

Soon, the three entered upon a room with a training dummy, who was simply standing there, without a care in the world. Toriel approached it.

"This dummy should allow me to explain how to deal with the monsters in the Underground." Toriel explained, "When you enter a fight, strike up a nice conversation. Show it some mercy. Defend yourself against attacks."

Frisk nodded, approaching the dummy. As soon as he was close, his soul appeared. However, unlike his encounter with Flowey, Frisk noticed that four buttons had appeared in front of him, each a different command. They were:

 **[* FIGHT] [* ACT]** **[* ITEM]** **[X MERCY]**

Frisk examined each of the buttons. His hand hovered over the buttons, his soul indicating which button was currently highlighted. Frisk looked up at the dummy, who simply stared at Frisk with empty eyes. It looked like as if it were waiting for something.

"..." the dummy uttered.

Frisk was unsure of how to progress here. Then the dummy spoke.

"Are you... going to fight... me?" it softly spoke.

"I say that you **fight** it, Frisk," Chara advised quietly, "it seems it has an intention to fight."

Frisk looked down at his buttons again. Looking at the **[** **FIGHT]** button, Frisk couldn't bring himself to touch the button. He gently touched the **[** **MERCY]** button instead, which seem to irritate Chara. This caused two more options to appear: "Spare" and "Flee". Frisk chose "Spare".

"I'd rather not fight." Frisk replied quietly.

The dummy remained silent. Frisk was hesitant on his next choice. He scanned the buttons, choosing the **[ACT]** button. In doing so, he decided to converse with the dummy instead.

"Would you like to talk about your day instead?" Frisk politely ask.

The dummy simply stared. "...okay."

Frisk's face beamed brightly.

Frisk talked with the dummy for a bit, introducing himself and discussing a few topics. After several minutes, Frisk's soul disappeared from Frisk's vision, signaling the end of the "battle". Toriel smiled, but Chara frowned.

"Well done, Frisk!" she said with glee, "You seem to have the hang of sparing the monsters down here, and showing them some mercy and love!"

Frisk smiled nervously, his face blushing hard. He turned to Chara, whose face showed slight ire.

"What was that all about?" Chara asked. "Sparing an enemy in battle? Remind me if I'm wrong, **but in a fight, you're suppose to FIGHT!** "

Frisk shook his head again. "Not exactly. Sparing the opponent is better than letting their lives disappear in a flash."

Chara was a little dumbfounded. He wondered, as he and Frisk followed Toriel, where he had witnessed a similar mentality.

* * *

Soon, after a small encounter with a Froggit (which Toriel scared away before it "harmed" Frisk) and having Toriel navigate Frisk and Chara through a spike "trap", the two happened upon a long room. It was so long, Frisk thought it went on for miles!

"Whoa, what a big room this is!" Frisk commented.

"Yes..." Toriel paused for a moment before turning to Frisk with a face of concern. "Frisk, I must ask you of a favor."

"Yes, Miss Toriel?"

"I need you to walk to the end of this room by yourself," Toriel replied, "I will go on ahead. Please, forgive me for this."

Frisk was slightly confused. He turned to Chara for a moment.

"I wonder what's she was meaning by that request?" Frisk asked.

"How should I know?" Chara replied with a bit of snark, "Besides, **she's not with us anymore.** Look!"

Frisk turned back towards Toriel, only to find that she had disappeared. Frisk began to slightly panic.

 _Oh no!_ Frisk thought in a panic, _I've only been with Toriel for only several minutes, and already I lost her! No. Don't panic, Frisk. She's bound to be somewhere close by. Better do what she asked._

With some confidence, Frisk began to quietly stroll towards the other end of the room. The room seemed to go on forever, but Frisk could spot the room's far end, which was getting closer and closer to Frisk as he walked on. Chara had begun walking, but was several steps behind Frisk, and Chara was quietly mumbling to himself.

Eventually, Frisk and Chara reached the other end of the room. But Toriel was still missing in attendance. Frisk scratched his head.

"Well, shoot!" Frisk stated in puzzlement, "I thought Miss Toriel would be here waiting for us?"

Just then, from behind a pillar behind Frisk, Toriel popped out.

"Surprise, Frisk!"

"Miss Toriel!" Frisk turned towards the goat guardian and smiled, his eyes lighting up. "I knew you'd be close by!"

"Yes, child," Toriel replied in relief, "I was testing your independence because I have another request for you."

Frisk looked at Toriel's face with mild anticipation.

"I need to go home and get everything ready for your arrival," Toriel replied worriedly, "and I need you to stay here for a while. While I'm gone, take this cell phone and keep it on you. Call me when you need something!"

"Thank you, Miss Toriel!" Frisk replied politely, "I'll be here waiting!"

Toriel waved good-bye and headed off towards her home. Frisk looked down at the black device he was handed. It looked somewhat old, but fairly modern. It had no touch screen; instead, it had buttons to dial numbers with. It's overall shape was a rectangular brick. It felt slightly clunky. But Frisk was nevertheless overjoyed to get his own cell phone!

" **What is that ugly-looking thing?** " Chara asked in disgust over the phone's appearance.

"It's a phone," Frisk quietly replied in irritation, "except it's a slightly outdated model."

For an hour, Frisk waited in the long room. He had called Toriel only once to ask about herself. Chara dared Frisk at one point to flirt with Toriel and call her mom. Frisk disagreed, since he already had a mom. And really, Frisk knew he shouldn't flirt with women much older than himself.

But Frisk began to tire of waiting.

"I really don't want to leave," Frisk told Chara, "but I feel like Toriel's going to worry about me. I think we should head towards Toriel's home."

"Good idea. **Even I'm sick of waiting!** " Chara replied, somewhat less snarky that before.

The two boys packed up whatever they had and proceeded out of the room, towards Toriel's home.

* * *

After leaving the elongated room, Frisk and Chara experienced some more of the ruins. They came across Froggits, Whimsuns, and Moldsmals. Every time one of these enemies appeared, Chara told Frisk to kill it. Frisk refused, and instead spared each monster. Chara didn't know how to make of how Frisk was able to resolve conflicts through conversation or sparing, but it made Chara less likely to command Frisk to press **[FIGHT]**.

Among the rooms, Frisk and Chara found some Monster Candy (Frisk took only one, but Chara took three pieces), solved a small puzzle involving placing a small rock on a switch, and a table with a piece of cheese on it and a mouse hole. Everything they discovered seem to invoke some sort of wonder in them. It truly was a peculiar place, but it was wonderful.

Also, at one point, Toriel called to ask about Frisk's preference on a certain flavor: butterscotch or cinnamon. He chose both, which shocked Toriel, who was amazed that Frisk preferred both flavors.

Frisk and Chara soon happened upon a small room, where he found a patch of red leaves in the middle. As they entered, a loud sound pierced the natural silence of the room.

"What's that sound?" Chara asked.

"It sounds like... snoring?" Frisk looked in front of him, and what he saw was a ghost, lying in the patch of red leaves. Frisk walked up to it. When he got closer, he heard the ghost snores more clearly.

"Zzzzz... Zzzzz... Zzzzz..."

"I think this ghost's actually awake." Chara inferred, "No one says 'Z' like that when they snore."

If Frisk was the impatient type, he would have just stepped around the sleeping ghost, but Frisk didn't want to be greatly rude. Frisk knelt down and poked the ghost lightly with his slingshot.

The ghost awoke in surprise. "...hello there, sir..." it said boringly.

Again, Frisk's soul appeared, along with the four command buttons. Frisk simply used **[ACT]: Cheer**.

"Sorry, Mr. Ghost," Frisk apologized, giving a patient smile, "but I wanted to let you know that you're making yourself a roadblock and I didn't want you to get hurt."

The ghost just stared at Frisk, its expression dull. Soon, tears came from its eyes. Frisk lightly dodged these tears as they whizzed by. Soon, it was Frisk's turn again. He selected, once again, **[ACT]: Joke**. Frisk told the ghost a small joke. The ghost dully chuckled.

"... sorry, I'm not really feeling it... right now... sorry..." the ghost moaned.

Frisk once more selected **[ACT]: Cheer**. He gave the ghost another patient smile.

"... can I show you something?"

Frisk nodded. As Frisk did, the ghost shed tears again, but the tears went upward instead, which formed a hat.

"... I call it... 'dapper blook'." the ghost replied half-heartedly.

Frisk selected **[ACT]: Cheer** , complimenting the ghost's hat. "It's a awesome-looking hat!"

"Oh gee..." the ghost replied back, this time slightly more joyful.

"... heh heh... Nice to meet you..." The ghost paused for a moment. "... I'm Napstablook... if you want to visit me sometime... oh, nevermind... you might forget..."

"Don't worry, Napstablook!" Frisk commented, "I'll come visit you, especially with my friend, Chara!"

"... oh gee... thanks..." Napstablook replied back, fading from view.

"We should really visit him sometime, Chara." Frisk remarked, "I'll make a note on my phone so we don't forget."

"That ghost seemed a little depressed," Chara added, "yet, you cheered it up a bit. Maybe MERCY does have its place..."

Frisk made a note on the cell phone. After doing so, he and Chara took a few steps before a familiar scent grabbed their attention. Following the scent to his right, Frisk found himself and Chara in a small, empty room. The only things in the room were a few cobwebs and a sign. They looked at the sign posted in the room, which read out the following message:

 **SPIDER BAKE SALE**

 _All proceeds go to real spiders!_

"A bake sale, huh?" Frisk whispered to himself in wonder.

" **I didn't know spiders could bake,** " Chara said sarcastically.

Looking at the webs, they both noticed some spiders crawling about. Frisk knelt down to talk to the spiders, who immediately looked at him. The spiders then began to tell about their goods, such as Spider Donuts and Spider Cider, and offered them to Frisk.

"Sure!" Frisk replied back, smiling, "I'll gladly buy a Spider Donut!"

"Get me one too, Frisk." Chara demanded.

Frisk grabbed some gold coins, earned from helping monsters, from his pocket. Counting out fourteen gold coins, he handed them to the spiders, who gave Frisk two Spider Donuts. Frisk looked at the donuts very carefully, noting the pastry's rubbery look. He took a small bite out of one donut, and instantly found its taste to be amazing!

"Yum! This is great!" Frisk complimented, grabbing some more change from his pocket, "Here, I'll take a cup of Spider Cider and a small bag of three Spider Donuts with me!"

The spiders squealed in joy at the proceeds they were getting. After giving Frisk his order, Frisk handed the correct amount to the spiders. He thanked them, telling them that he'll be back for more when he needs a donut. With his bag of treats and his cup of Spider Cider, Frisk continued towards Toriel's home, Chara in tow (who was eating his donut like he hadn't eaten anything).

* * *

Eventually, after some more puzzles involving rocks and switches, encountering Vegetoids and Loks, and falling into a few pits, Frisk and Chara reached the end of the Ruins. Upon entering its final chamber, the two boys saw before them a room similar to the Ruins' entrance, but there was no raised platform, and where an empty spot in the middle exist was now a large tree. Frisk and Chara suddenly heard a familiar voice from behind the tree.

"Oh dear..." Toriel's voice said worriedly, "I should have never let him go alone. He might be lost in the ruins. Maybe he might answer his cell..."

As Toriel began to dial her phone as she came around the tree, she spotted Frisk, standing perfectly unscathed.

"Frisk?" Toriel said with mild shock, "Did you come here all on your own?"

"Yes, ma'am." Frisk answered, "I'm sorry if I disobeyed your orders to stay in the one room, but I thought you might worry about me, so I decided to come here with my... er... imaginary friend."

"Oh, Frisk!" Toriel replied with relief.

Frisk and Toriel both hugged each other. Chara attempted to, but decided against it, since his hug might not be felt.

"So, Frisk," Toriel began, "while you were in the Ruins, I got some groceries and made a butterscotch-cinnamon pie. I wanted to make you a pie as a welcome treat..."

"Butterscotch-cinnamon pie? That's my favorite treat!" Frisk said, eyes widening with joy.

Chara's eyes widen and his mouth started to drool with excitement.

"Well, then!" Toriel said warmly, "I guess we better head inside. Besides, I have a surprise for you!"

Frisk could only nodded with joy. He loved surprises.

Upon entering through a brick building at the other end of the room, Frisk found himself, Chara, and Toriel in a... house? It was no mistake, the inside of the building was like the interior of a house. The lighting was warm and inviting. The interior was nicely constructed.

"Welcome to my home," Toriel said, "I hope you enjoy your stay here!"

"It's very nice," Frisk commented, "Like my home on the Surface!"

"I'm glad you feel that way!" Toriel smiled, then motioned Frisk towards the hallway on the right. "The surprise is this way."

The three walked down the right hallway, stopping at the first door.

"Surprise!" Toriel pointed towards the door, "A room for you to stay in! I keep it clean to make sure if any visitors from above fell down here."

Frisk smiled, and hugged Toriel. "Thank you, Miss Toriel! It's wonderful!"

Toriel smiled. Suddenly, her face contorted into a confused look as she sniffed the air. "Is something burning...?" She began to walk towards the kitchen. "Excuse me, but I think I need to check on something really quickly. Make yourself comfortable!" Afterwards, Toriel rushed towards the kitchen.

* * *

Frisk and Chara entered the bedroom. It was small, but inviting. It had a fairly-sized bed, a bookshelf, a dresser with a dusty photo frame with no picture, and a box filled with various shoes, but all of different sizes.

"I wonder why Toriel keeps many shoes, all in different sizes," Frisk thought curiously aloud, "as if she expects different visitors... or had visitors who left a long time ago..."

"I probably guess the latter," Chara replied more warmly, "because these shoes look a few years old."

Frisk yawned. "I feeling a little sleepy. Best if we hit the hay."

Chara nodded in response. He did start to feel rather tired as well.

Frisk took off his shoes and socks, took off his hoodie, and placed them in the top dresser drawer. Chara took his shoes and socks off as well, placing them in the drawer below Frisk's drawer. Frisk placed his bag of Spider Donuts on the top of the dresser, and he and Chara both drank the Spider Cider to quench their thirsts.

"Here's another blanket and pillow for you." Frisk handed Chara a pink pillow and a purple-pink quilt. Chara placed them on the ground next to the bed.

"Are you sure you want to sleep on the floor?" Frisk asked with some concern, "I mean, you can sleep on the bed, and I'll sleep on the floor."

"Nah, Frisk, I'm fine with sleeping on the floor." Chara replied, "Besides, if she saw you sleeping on the floor, she'd get suspicious."

Frisk nodded, and climbed into the bed. As he placed the covers over himself, Frisk noticed some drawings on paper pinned up on the left wall. Looking at them, they looked like humans, except in different clothing. Each one had a soul of a different color. It was hard to tell sometimes what their smaller details were since the pictures seem faded.

"Think those were the six humans that came before us?" Frisk asked Chara, pointing to the pictures.

"Maybe," Chara replied hoarsely, "but I don't think we can be too sure. Anyways, 'night... Frisk."

"Goodnight, Chara." Frisk whispered back, before falling into a deep sleep.

Chara stayed awake for a while, pondering over the recent events. Toriel's familiarity to him, Frisk's ability to show MERCY, and even his "absence" to everyone else except Frisk, all of these things he pondered. Eventually he fell asleep.

* * *

 _"Hey, Chara!" a voice spoke, its tone soft and gentle._

 _Chara, who was reading a book, turned to the speaker of the voice. "Yes, brother? What is it?" he chuckled lightly._

 _"Mom's made us some butterscotch pie!" the voice boomed with excitement, "She also put cinnamon in it for you, since you like cinnamon better!"_

 _Chara smiled. His brother seemed to be really kind-hearted and happy, especially in situations where he should be. He was almost like a positive energy that makes everyone around him happy._

 _"Well, let's not let that pie go to waste, then!" Chara said, putting the book down on the bed. He and his brother headed towards the dining room in the east part of their home. The smell of pie wavered through the house._

 _And there, serving the pie with care, was the mother of the two, smiling warmly and her goat eyes sparkling._

* * *

Frisk and Chara stirred from sleep. As Chara sat up, he felt something wet on his cheek. Feeling where it was wet, he traced back to his eyes. He froze for a moment. Had he been crying in his sleep? Was the dream he had something that had really happened to him?

"Morning, Chara." Frisk greeted with a yawn.

Frisk noticed something on the floor: a plate with a pie slice on it.

"Hmm." Chara commented, "Miss Toriel must have put it there while we slept."

Frisk remained quiet. Chara noticed and turned to Frisk. "Something wrong, Frisk?"

"I can't stay here." Frisk stated with guilt, "I need to return to the Surface. I want to stay with Miss Toriel very much, but my family and friends will get worried about me.

Chara simply relieved a small sigh. "Well, let's get ready to go. Gather your things and tell Miss Toriel goodbye."

Frisk nodded in reply.

After he and Chara finished dressing, they searched the room a bit. Underneath the bed, Frisk found a small backpack, brown in color, and quite aged by its appearance of slight wear on it.

"Better use that to keep your stuff it," Chara advised, "we can't keep much stuff in our pockets."

Frisk proceeded to place his slingshot, his hoodie, and the Spider Donut bag inside. Chara took the slice of butterscotch-cinnamon pie and placed it in a box, then placing it in the pack. Frisk wore his locket and put on the pack. Then, they both headed out the door.

As they stepped out of the room, Frisk and Chara looked towards the right. There, they saw Toriel, sitting in an armchair, reading a book. Both boys headed towards Toriel's location. When they reached was Frisk assumed was the living room, they noticed a warm fire burning in a fireplace. Toriel looked from her book and noticed Frisk.

"Up already, I see!" she said cheerfully.

"Yep!" Frisk replied, his voice almost in a phony joyful tone, "I noticed the pie you had set down while I slept. It looked delicious!"

"What's with the voice?" Chara asked quietly.

"Well, I'm glad you liked the pie, Fr-!" Toriel suddenly noticed the pack Frisk wore. Her face's smile faded. "Why are you wearing that old pack?"

Frisk gulped. He didn't want to alert Toriel, but he couldn't lie to her. "Um... I was planning on heading back to the Surface. Do you know where I can find the exit?"

The whole house went silent. Toriel's face smiled nervously, then frowned with worry. She stood up, placed the book she was reading on the chair she once sat in, and proceeded to head over towards Frisk.

"Er... Frisk," Toriel began, "Did I ever tell you about how I've always wanted to be a teacher?"

Frisk was unable to speak. He simply nodded at the request.

"She's stalling you, isn't she?" Chara remarked with irritation.

"Well, if the monsters ever go free," Toriel spoke with a raspy, nervous voice, "I want to teach young children, both monster and human alike, about the world, literature, math, and even language. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be happening anytime soon..."

Frisk cleared his throat. "Um... Miss Toriel," Frisk began, "as much as I like how you want to be a teacher, I really need to head back to the Surface. Do you know where the exit back to the Surface is?"

Toriel again went silent. Soon, she walked towards the foyer stairs. "Excuse me for a moment, Frisk." Toriel said, worry evident in her tone, "I need to go do something..."

She disappeared down the foyer stairs. Frisk and Chara began to suspect that Toriel was worried about Frisk's well-being, so they followed suit after her. Going down the stairs, Frisk found himself and Chara in a hidden part of the Ruins. It was a lengthy hallway. He and Chara saw Toriel walking towards the end of the hallway. They both followed suit after her.

"Frisk," Toriel spoke, shocking Frisk and Chara, "please go back upstairs. If you leave here, they... Asgore, will kill you and take your soul. At the end of this passage is the Ruins' exit. I'm going to go destroy it. Now be a good boy and head back upstairs." Toriel continued on her way.

"Keep following her," Chara whispered, "maybe we can stop her from blocking our exit out of the Ruins."

Frisk nodded. They both followed behind, but at a distance. But Toriel seemed to have eyes in the back of her head.

"Frisk," Toriel spoke once more, this time anger and seriousness evident in her words, "please head back upstairs. Every time, it's the same story. They come. They leave. They die. Please be a good child and head back to your room."

Frisk and Chara, however, refused in silence and continued to follow.

Soon, they reached a stone doorway, sporting a strange symbol, similar to the one on Toriel's dress. Toriel stood in front of it. Frisk and Chara approached her, hoping to change her mind to avoid destroying the door.

"Why must you be difficult, Frisk?" Toriel said, her voice grave, "The other six who preceded you left this place, and fell to Asgore's hands. Their souls are kept in the Underground's castle. I cannot allow him to take your soul as well."

Frisk shook his head. "I just want to go home, Toriel," Frisk stated, "my mother and grandmother are probably worried sick about me. I need to head home. I can handle things myself."

Silence rang throughout the Ruins. The only sounds heard were the wind and the breathing of Toriel, Chara (only to Frisk), and Frisk. Soon, Toriel turned towards Frisk and Chara, her face expressing grave seriousness, but also heartache. A few small flames lit up around her.

"If that's what you wish," Toriel began, her voice serious and direct, "then prove your strength to me! Prove that you can defend yourself from the dangers of the Underground!"

Soon, Frisk's soul reappeared, and the buttons once again stood before him. He became worried. He looked to Chara, who was slowly backing away, as not to get caught in any cross-fire.

"I can't fight her, Chara!" Frisk whispered, "I practically promised myself to never bring harm to anyone! Not even a little Froggit!"

"Well, find another way out of this." Chara replied, "You know how to show MERCY, so use it to your advantage!"

Toriel commanded the flames, sending them towards Frisk. Frisk quickly chose **[MERCY]** , and dodged the flames, which were hard to dodge, seeing that they moved fast. Frisk took off his pack and grabbed his slingshot. Selecting **[ACT]** : Counter, Frisk took a few small stones from the ground and aimed his slingshot at the flames. He fired the rocks at the flames, which extinguished themselves.

"What are you doing...?" Toriel asked gravely to Frisk, again commanding a wave of flames after Frisk.

Frisk selected **[MERCY]** once more, shooting more rocks at the flames, though he had to dodge some he couldn't hit with a stone in time. He kept dodging the flames, though a few hit Frisk, causing him to get slight burns. Toriel began to become slightly agitated at Frisk's refusal to fight back.

"I'm not going to fight you, Miss Toriel!" Frisk stated, dodging another flame, "I'm trying to show some mercy on you!"

Toriel shook her head. "Mercy will do you no good. You must fight!"

Frisk refused again and kept selecting **[MERCY]**.

Frisk kept dodging more of the flames, hoping to avoid getting burnt to a crisp. When Frisk noticed that his injuries were becoming larger, he selected **[ITEM]** and grabbed a Spider Donut, which healed his wounds. He continued to find a few more stones and chuck them at the flames.

Chara simply watched, almost in utter amazement, at Frisk's determination. Frisk seemed to keep landing back on his feet, even when Toriel attempted to trip up Frisk by using faster fire magic. Chara simply could not believe it.

Toriel's face began to soothe itself, forming into a face of worry. "Please, do not attempt to leave here..." Toriel pleaded.

Frisk selected **[MERCY]** once more.

"Stay here in the Ruins... I can provide for you..." Toriel continued.

As Frisk continued dodging, he noticed that the fire was beginning to evade him. He was confused at first, but then realized that Toriel was beginning to feel guilty about placing Frisk into a battle with her. Soon, the fire just flew past Frisk, not even attempting to harm.

"I know I don't have much..." Toriel pleaded once again, "but we can lived happily in the Ruins."

Frisk only responded with **[MERCY]**. His breathing was deep with exhaustion.

Soon, Toriel's magic fire died down completely. Frisk stopped dodging and sat down to catch his breath. He realized that Toriel did not want to fight him any longer. She had felt guilty to a great extent that not even she could bring harm to him.

"Please, Toriel... I want to see my mother again..." Frisk pleaded. "I don't want her to worry about me."

Toriel stayed silent for awhile, almost wishing to keep Frisk safe here from Asgore's reach, but her better judgement won out. Frisk's patience seemed to have its effect on her.

Toriel nodded in agreement. "You're right, Frisk. Staying in these Ruins would only make you lonely and cramped, as the Ruins are quite small once you get used to them..."

Toriel walked over to Frisk. She helped him up, and hugged him, tighter than before. Tears ran down her face. Frisk felt them land on his shoulder. Chara trudged over, his own eyes almost tearing up at Toriel's motherly embrace on Frisk.

"Ha... I cannot even save a single child..." Toriel cried softly.

"Miss Toriel," Frisk began to sob lightly, "I know you don't want me to leave, and I want to stay here with you, but my mother and grandmother will be heartbroken, as they've already lost one child. I'm all they have left..."

Toriel cried in silence, at a loss for words. She stood upright again, wiping her tears away.

"Frisk, you must listen to my words of wisdom," Toriel said softly, "for your journey into the Underground itself will be quite difficult."

Raising her hand, she summoned a magic flame, which transformed into a book, which was black, with white and silver designs, and a crystal embedded into its front cover. She handed it to Frisk.

"Please take this." Toriel continued, "This is the Delta Tome. Its magic can reveal information about your quest. May it serve you well." She paused for a second. "Please... rekindle the seven lights..." she whispered.

Frisk nodded in understanding, though slightly confused at Toriel's final words. Seven lights? What did that mean?

"Once you leave here," she choked, "do not come back here. Please head straight for the Surface."

Hugging Frisk one last time, Toriel started walking back towards her home. She stopped, turning once more to Frisk.

"I almost forgot this." Toriel said quietly.

She summoned a small blade, sheathed in a scabbard. She fastened it to Frisk's body.

"This is a magic sword called the Soul Blade." she explained, "Use it wisely on your journey. Good luck on your way home, Frisk."

"Goodbye, Miss Toriel. Thanks for the care you've given me." Frisk replied with another hug, tears sliding down his cheeks.

Toriel nodded, then turned around and disappeared back towards her home.

Frisk waited in silence for a moment. Chara stood by his side.

"Come on, Frisk," Chara said quietly, "let's get going."

Frisk nodded, and proceeded with Chara through the doors.

* * *

As Frisk and Chara approached the exit out of the Ruins, they were suddenly greeted with a face they had hoped to forget. Unfortunately, he was simply sitting there, smiling almost smugly.

"What do you, Flowey?" Frisk muttered.

"Just here to mock you on your battle with Toriel." Flowey replied, "You decided to show MERCY to her, even though in this world, it's kill or be killed. So, you played by your own rules this time."

"What do you mean 'this time'?" Frisk questioned.

"You see," Flowey continued, "you can't show MERCY to everyone. You'll probably encounter a relentless killer, and you'll continue dying until you break and give up." Flowey's face contorted into its creepy smile.

"That's bullcrud!" Chara snapped at the flower's remarks, his eyes almost glowing red. "I oughta smash you into the ground!"

"Anyways, Frisk," the flower boomed with cynical laughter, "I'll see how you handle the rest of your pathetic journey! Ha ha ha ha ha ha!"

Flowey disappeared back into the ground. Frisk and Chara couldn't believe that Flowey had survived Toriel's fire blast from earlier. But standing around and getting angry at Flowey would do no good, so Frisk and Chara continued through the exit.

Upon stepping foot outside the Ruins, they were met with coldness. They saw snow on the ground, covering it like a white blanket. The air felt chilly, and the boys seemed to shiver from the cold.

"Brr! It's freezing in this part of the Underground!" Frisk remarked. "Hey, Chara! Can you get my hoodie from the backpack, please?"

"Sure." Chara opened the pack and rummaged for the deep blue-grey hoodie. As he found it and pulled it out, something fell out of the pack.

"Hmm?" Chara looked down at the fallen object. It was some sort of plastic knife. It's handle was black, and its dark grey blade rectangular ending at a point, denoted to be the knife's "sharp" end. Its blade also had an aqua-blue heart design on it.

"A toy knife?" Frisk pondered.

Suddenly, the Delta Tome in Frisk's hands glowed with an aqua-blue light. Frisk opened the Delta Tome. Within the pages, an entry appeared.

" _Patience. A human with this trait will have an aqua soul. A patient one's special ability is to wait very still, not moving at all. The Toy Knife is the first of the Six Relics, left by one of the six fallen humans. The Toy Knife may appear to be real, but its false appearance is to deter others without making a single move. It was used by Mark, a patient boy from a wealthy family. His soul's strong point was the Ruins, where the Toy Knife rested._ "

After Frisk and Chara finished reading the passage, the book's glow faded. The two boys looked at each other.

"The Toy Knife, huh?" Chara stated, looking back at the knife in his hands.

"It was left by one of the fallen humans, specifically by this Mark boy." Frisk replied back, "So, I'm guessing that when Toriel mention seven lights, she must have meant the six humans as six of the seven."

"Well," Chara replied back, "if we find the other Relics, we might find out more about the fallen humans, while also exploring and learning about the Underground."

Frisk nodded. "Let's be on our way. The path here leads towards the woods. Maybe our next location is this way?"

Chara nodded in response, and they continued down the path. As they did so, Frisk began to smile.

"You know, Chara?" Frisk began, "That entry about Patience in the Delta Tome reminded me of one of my human friends on the Surface. She's quite a patient person, and my first true friend on the Surface."

"Really?"

Frisk nodded. As he continued walking with Chara, memories began to flood back to Frisk as he talked to Chara about his friend.

* * *

 **SURFACE - 2 YEARS AGO**

* * *

 _Frisk sat alone on the school's playground. He had been tormented constantly by the bullies of the school, including the worst bully, Terrence Watson, a second grader who made fun of his dead brother, his constant shyness, and his weak strength. They threw ice water on him when Frisk least expected it, they shoved him into a trash can, and constantly trip him on purpose._

 _Frisk had no one to really hang out with or anyone to talk to; everyone either bullied him or paid no attention to him. He was practically all alone. Or so he thought at that moment._

 _While Frisk was sitting on the swings of the playground, Frisk noticed Watson and his gang coming close to Frisk's location. Frisk knew if they saw him, he'd be picked on for sure. Frisk attempted to sneak away quietly without being heard. He was almost in the clear before one of Watson's members spotted him._

 _"Hey! There's Frisk!" the boy yelled._

 _"Let's get him and throw him in the trash!" another boy snickered._

 _"It's been awhile since he's been in the trash!" another commented._

 _The immediate second he saw those boys running towards him, Frisk knew he couldn't stand around and take the abuse, so he broke into a run. Unfortunately for him, Watson's gang had him in a tight spot. Frisk was in a fix. If he attempted to swing around the group, he'd be caught before he even made five feet in running distance._

 _"Over here, sir!" a soft voice beckoned._

 _Frisk turned around to see who called him, and saw a girl standing just two feet away from him. She had orange-colored hair, green eyes, wore a light blue-grey dress, and her hair was in a ponytail, and wore a faded aqua-blue ribbon. She was gesturing Frisk over to her location by the slide. Frisk made a mad dash towards the slide, barely making it before Watson's gang caught up._

 _Frisk ran behind the girl, a few tears in his eyes. The girl placed a hand on Frisk's shoulder and told him that it would be okay._

 _"Oh! Look at Frisk!" a boy taunted, "He's using a girl as a meat shield!"_

 _"How stupid and cowardly!" another barked._

 _"You don't use a girl as a shield, nimrod!" another sneered._

 _"Excuse me, sirs," the girl softly, but directly spoke, "but how about you head off somewhere besides here?"_

 _The boys simply laughed._

 _"Oh, this is rich!" one of the boys taunted evilly, "It's Firehair protecting 'fraidy Frisk!"_

 _"How about you go play with your dollies, ribbony!" one boy finally taunted._

 _Frisk figured that these boys might set off the girl's anger. But there was no yelling, just the girl standing firm._

 _"Do you seriously think those taunts really bug me?" she simply stated, "Nice try, but I'm not going anywhere."_

 _The boys' laughter soon became growls of anger. Their evil smiles became frustrated frowns._

 _"You discrediting us!?" one boy picked._

 _"Wow, Johnny! That was a lame comeback!" another commented._

 _"I hate to be rude," the girl finally commanded directly, yet calmly, "but unless you lot manage to find something else to do than bother this boy here, then I'm standing here and not moving until a teacher finally comes and questions your actions."_

 _This stung the group hard. They didn't want more trouble with the teachers, so they left to play some basketball instead. After the group left, Frisk came out from behind the girl._

 _"Thanks for standing up for me, ma'am." Frisk said politely._

 _"No problem." the girl replied gently, then she stuck her hand out in a position to shake hands. "You're Frisk, right? I'm Alice."_

 _"Nice to meet you, Alice!" Frisk replied. "Say, you're in my class. You're that girl who likes to help bandage up injured kids."_

 _Alice nodded. "Yep, that's me. I'm always patient with others. Sometimes, there are times where you have to not move and stay still, wait for the problem to become resolved. The more you're patient, the better the situation will be."_

 _From that point on, Frisk and Alice became good friends, with Alice usually stopping Frisk's tormentors if they started picking on him. Things for Frisk were starting to look much brighter._

* * *

 _ **AUTHOR'S NOTE**_

So, this chapter got a major overhaul to it. Chara was inserted into the story, so he'll be Frisk's companion for the majority of the story. And before you ask, no, Chara will not influence Frisk to commit Genocide; Chara will be trying to regain his memories, learn the importance of MERCY (because he focuses to FIGHT), and begin to bond with Frisk as a friend.

I also rewrote some of the dialogue and narration to fit more closely to the actual game, especially Napstablook's dialogue. When it comes to memories, they will be written in italics to signify a memory. Frisk's memories will be signified by starting with "SURFACE - 2 YEARS AGO".

So, I've been on a writing kick, and I expect that Chapter 2 of Frisk's Adventure, and maybe Chapters 3 and 4, less likely Chapter 5, to be posted. Chapters 2, 3, and 4 focus on the Snowdin Arc of the story, with Chapter 5 starting off the Waterfall Arc.

Also, I am doing Q&A as new Chapters are posted to answer any questions you, the readers, may have on the story. To ask a question, simply either post a review, or send a PM to me ask a question, and I'll try to answer it in the next Chapter.

Also, I'd like to thank Ako1209, Alextar2000, SirAuruda1st, BentleyGirl, Down with Chrysalis, Eclipsed Blade, Ehanu Rehu, Jui-Imouto-Chan, Katytosh, Linusland2, MeatLover2014, Msmith97, PyroSolracIII, QuirkyKit, Readerfever, WarBear44, aXEL92, jcolli89, kuroshitsujifan123, and tomce795 for following this story, and I'd like to thank Ako1209, Alextar2000, SirAuruda1st, Eclipsed Blade, Ehanu Rehu, Linusland2, QuirkyKit, Readerfever, WarBear44, aXEL92, jcolli89, and mjstimpson for favoriting this story. It means so much to me how people love this story so far! Thank you so much!

Hope to see you all next chapter!

 _ **ZephyrBlu: "What is FIGHTING? I only know MERCY."**_

EDIT: I added bold lettering to some of Chara's lines, which signify his other, dark personality emerging in his voice. Also, I updated a few lines, but they might not be noticeable.


	3. Chapter 2: Cold Encounters

**[CHAPTER TWO] Cold Encounters**

* * *

FRISK'S PARTY STATUS

RELICS: _Toy Knife - ? - ? - ? - ? - ?_

BONDED SOULS: _Toriel - ? - ? - ? - ? - ? - ?_

INVENTORY: _Monster Candy, Spider Donut, Spider Donut, Spider Donut, Butterscotch Pie, Delta Tome_

FRISK: 20 / 20 HP - Trusty Slingshot

CHARA: 20 / 20 HP - None

[empty]

[empty]

[empty]

[empty]

* * *

Frisk and Chara slowly trudged down the snowy path through the snowy forests. It had been fifteen minutes since they left the Ruins, and Frisk was already having a feeling of missing Toriel. He never meant to cause her heartbreak, but Frisk needed to return home. So he, along with Chara in tow, continued towards the next destination the road led them to.

It was quite cold, and Frisk was keeping himself warm with his deep blue-grey hoodie, but the hoodie wasn't made for this kind of cold weather. Chara, for some strange reason, didn't feel the cold at all. In fact, Chara didn't really feel anything. Frisk's legs almost buckled from shivering so hard.

"Geez," Frisk stuttered from the cold, "why did it have to be a cold place?"

" **Oh, stop whining, Frisk!** " Chara snapped, "It's just snow. You've seen it before on the Surface, haven't you?"

Frisk nodded.

" **Then, stop whining about it being cold!** We'll find a warm place soon! Just keep walk-!"

Frisk and Chara stopped in their tracks. They had heard a large crack coming from behind. Turning around, they gasped at the sight of a stick lying in the middle of the road, which was too sturdy for Frisk or Chara to break, had been broken completely.

"Whoa..." Frisk muttered.

"Snapped... like it was nothing..." Chara mumbled. "Let's go, Frisk. I don't like the looks of this!"

Frisk and Chara continued on. As they did, Chara heard some footsteps coming from behind. They weren't his, and Frisk was right beside him. Toriel didn't come out of the Ruins, did she? Turning around, Chara saw a silhouette, but it wasn't Toriel's, it was something different. And it was lurking in the trees. Chara turned back to Frisk.

"Uhh... Frisk?"

"What is it, Chara?"

"I think someone's following us..."

Frisk turned his head around to look behind him. He saw nothing but trees, snow, and mountains. Chara saw the same thing as well.

"Well, there WAS someone following us." Chara replied nervously.

"I think you're a little paranoid, Chara." Frisk commented, "Don't get too worked up."

The two boys soon managed to reach a bridge, which looked funny because of the bars set up on the sides of the bridge. Chara said that it might be some sort of gate. As they crossed the bridge, they found, on the other side, a wooden structure that looked like a hot dog stand and a lamp that was shaped similar to Frisk and Chara.

"Weird looking lamp, but I'll take it." Chara remarked sarcastically.

Frisk walked over to the wooden structure, and looked inside the structure. Inside the structure, he found the interior to be bare of snow. It was practically bare of anything inside, save for an empty bottle of ketchup.

"Hey, Chara," Frisk called, "I think we can rest in here! There's no snow in this structure, so let's rest for a bit."

Chara nodded back and walked over to the wooden structure. Frisk had already set down his backpack and was already looking through the Delta Tome for other information to learn from. Chara sat down next to Frisk, hoping to get some peeks at the pages.

"Well, here's something interesting!" Frisk remarked in wonder.

"What is it, Frisk?" Chara asked, curious as to what Frisk found in the book.

"According to the Delta Tome," Frisk read, "the Underground is divided into five sections: **The Ruins** , being the entrance; **Snowdin** , where we are right now; **Waterfall** , which we go to next; **Hotlands** , which is much farther and acts as the power area for the Underground; and **The Capitol** , where we'll find the exit to the Underground!"

"That's nice." Chara replied with boredom.

"But there's a catch." Frisk continued, "There's a barrier that holds the monsters here won't allow anyone to cross over to either side. In order to cross the barrier, you would need a powerful soul equivalent to that of a god or powerful entity."

"Now that's a problem." Chara moaned, "Anyways, I'm going to rest my eyes for a bit."

"You do that, Chara," Frisk replied, "I'll keep reading the Delta Tome."

With that, Chara closed his eyes and lightly snored. He began to dream once more.

* * *

 _It was a cold day in the wintry landscapes of the winter village. Chara and his brother had been visiting to have a day in the snow, but so far, Chara and his brother weren't having much fun. Mainly, because Chara was getting cold, and the only thing they could do was make snow angels and play the Snowball Game, but they grew tired of playing them after a while._

 _"So, do you think we'll meet anyone new out here?" Chara's brother asked._

 _"That's a possibility." Chara replied, smile on his face._

 _The cold winds kept Chara from moving pretty far from the warmth of the town, mainly because his long-sleeved sweater wasn't helping much. The two decided to head back into town._

 _As they entered the town, they saw two skeletons talking-no, not talking-arguing with each other. One was a bigger skeleton, but not much bigger than Chara and his brother. The skeleton wore a brown coat, black pants, and blue shoes. The smaller one was just a head shorter than the other, wearing a thick, maroon sweater, black snow boots, and wore a red, knitted scarf._

 _"Big brother, I told you I hate hearing your jokes!" The smaller argued, "Why don't you do puzzles instead like me!?"_

 _"cool yourself, little bro." the bigger skeleton replied calmly, "my jokes aren't that bad."_

 _"Argh!" the smaller moaned._

 _Chara and his brother decided to walk over and help to remedy the situation._

 _"Excuse me, sirs?" Chara's brother piped up._

 _"OH! Hello, sir!" the smaller greeted, his sour face replaced with a goofy grin.  
_

 _"what's up?" the bigger greeted as well._

 _"We came over to see what was the problem." Chara spoke up, concern on his face._

 _"oh, we were just seeing whose hobby is better." the bigger replied._

 _"He says that jokes are better," the smaller piped up, "but I think puzzles are the best!"_

 _"Why not both?" Chara's brother suggested._

 _The two skeletons' eyes widened at the response._

 _"I see what you mean!" Chara added, "I find both puzzles and jokes to be interesting equally."  
_

 _"Wow!" the smaller said, "I really like these guys!"_

 _Chara and his brother simply laughed in embarrassment._

 _"yeah, you sure helped us out in our little pickle." the bigger replied. "oh, by the way, we never introduced ourselves..."_

 _"That's right," Chara stated, "we never got your names. What are your names?"_

 _The bigger skeleton grinned as he began to speak, "our names are-."_

* * *

Chara was suddenly awaken by Frisk constantly shaking Chara's body. Chara felt that, any more longer with the shaking, his eyes would lose direction and his head would be dizzy for several days.

"Hold it with the shaking, Frisk!" Chara yelled, "I'm up!"

Frisk ceased shaking Chara. "Sorry about that, Chara," Frisk apologized, "but I wanted you to meet somebody!"

"Who?"

"Come with me and we'll talk to him!" Frisk said with enjoyment.

Frisk helped Chara on his feet, and they both walked out from underneath the wooden structure. There, standing by the conveniently-shaped lamp, was a skeleton, practically short in height and a little wide. It wore a deep blue hoodie, a white tee, black gym shorts, and white slippers. The skeleton's face showed a goofy grin on it, like it never went away.

"hey," the skeleton spoke gruffly, "you must be that one kid that Frisk was talking about."

"Um, yes. I am Chara." Chara replied confidently, even though this skeleton struck familiarity into him. In fact, Chara seemed to know the skeleton's name, for strange reasons.

"Anyways, Chara, this is-!"

"Sans. Sans the Skeleton."

Silence fell over the three. Frisk was dumbfounded by Chara's sudden response of the skeleton's name, despite Chara never knowing him.

"well," Sans continued, "i kinda saw that one coming. but yeah, i'm sans."

"How did you know his name," Frisk finally spoke, "when you've never met him!?"

"Because," Chara replied, "it feels like I did know him, from a time before. In fact, I think he has a brother."

"you must mean papyrus. yeah, he's real." Sans teased.

"What are you, a psychic?" Frisk asked Chara.

"Nah. Probably lucky guesses." Chara teased.

"y'know," Sans suddenly spoke up, "i think that's papyrus over there, coming this way."

"Then I better hide from him," Frisk joked, "so that he doesn't have a heart attack from seeing me."

"just hide behind the lamp, kid." Sans advised.

Frisk went behind the lamp and stood completely still. Chara remained out in the open.

"Wait..." Chara suddenly was hit with a nagging thought. He turned to Sans. "Hey, Sans?"

"what's up, kid?" the small skeleton replied.

"Um, this may be an awkward question, but how can you see me? I mean, most of the other Underground residents didn't see me. In fact, they thought I was some sort of imaginary friend to Frisk. But you can see AND hear me. How?"

"that, kid, i'm unable to explain." Sans commented, "i'm not a scientist nor a miracle worker."

Chara's face sported confusion when Sans delivered his answer. It was not the knid of response that Chara was looking for, but perhaps Sans didn't really know how to explain it.

Suddenly, a tall skeleton dressed in mock battle armor and a long, red scarf came running towards Sans, an irritated expression on the skeleton's face. Sans simply grinned as the skeleton finally approached him.

"what's up, papyrus?" Sans asked in joking manner.

"YOU KNOW WHAT'S UP, SANS!" Papyrus yelled angrily, "IT'S BEEN EIGHT DAYS AND YOU STILL HAVEN'T RECALIBRATED. YOUR. PUZZLES!"

"aw, come on, pap!" Sans replied back, "I've had a ton of work lately."

"REALLY? WELL, I'M SORRY, BROTHER-."

"a skele-ton!" Sans added, chuckling hard.

Frisk stifled his laughter. Chara slightly laughed, though he didn't know why, but Papyrus didn't hear him.

"UGH! YOU AND YOUR PUNS!" Papyrus scolded, "YOU'VE ALWAYS BEEN USING THEM AS EXCUSES! I WILL NOT TOLERATE ANYMORE OF THIS LAZINESS!"

Sans shrugged nonchalantly.

"I MUST CAPTURE A HUMAN, SANS!" Papyrus said, making a pose as if being honored, "WHEN I DO, UNDYNE WILL MAKE ME A ROYAL GUARD MEMBER! I'LL BATHE IN A SHOWER OF KISSES EVERY DAY! I'LL HAVE MANY FRIENDS!"

"then, maybe this lamp will help you!" Sans gestured to the lap, which Frisk was hidden behind.

"SANS! THAT'S NOT HELPING!" Papyrus yelled.

"lighten up, pap. you've really been working me..."

"SANS..."

"to the bone." Sans chuckled.

Frisk clapped a hand to his mouth, trying to hold in his laughter.

"ARGH!" Papyrus screamed.

At that point, Frisk couldn't hold it any longer. He let his laughter howl, dropping from behind the lamp onto the snowy ground. His eyes watered up with tears of laughter and his gut began to ache from laughing. Papyrus was taken aback by Frisk's "sudden" appearance. Chara facepalmed at Frisk's inability to stay hidden.

"HOLY TORTELLINI!" Papyrus exclaimed, "IS THAT A HUMAN!?"

"actually, that's a lamp." Sans pointed to the lamp.

"OH..."

"but that's a human next to the lamp." Sans added, pointing to Frisk.

"OH MY...!" Papyrus squealed with joy. "I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT I'M MEETING A REAL HUMAN!"

At that point, Frisk got control of himself and stood up. "Er, yes, I'm a human. The name's Frisk, by the way."

"And I'm Chara!" Chara greeted Papyrus, even though Papyrus didn't see him.

"AHEM! HUMAN!" Papyrus proclaimed, "I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, AM GOING TO CAPTURE YOU! THROUGH A SERIES OF PUZZLES, I WILL ATTEMPT TO CAPTURE YOU BY THE WAY OF BAFFLING YOU WITH PUZZLES! I WILL SEE YOU UP AHEAD! AND AS FOR YOU, SANS..."

"yes, pap?" Sans asked.

"...PUT A LITTLE MORE 'BACK-BONE' INTO IT! NYEH HEH HEH!" Papyrus laughed, racing off ahead.

"well, you guys might want to get going," Sans spoke to the two boys, "because papyrus gets excited about puzzles, and he doesn't feel well when he gets let down, so better hoof it towards the puzzles."

"Yes, Sans!" Frisk said, rushing back to the wooden structure to gather his things.

"Sans, I'm still curious. How am I being seen?" Chara asked the skeleton, "I mean, being seen by you or Frisk?"

"well, that's a little difficult," Sans explained, "Frisk can see you because his determination is strong, and i can see you because my magic allows me to see things that others simply can't."

Chara was a bit surprised. Determination in humans could be a wonder in more ways than one, he figured. Soon, Frisk came running back, and grabbed Chara's arm. Then he dashed off towards Papyrus's location.

"Augh!" Chara screamed as he was pulled along by Frisk, "Slow down, Frisk! I can barely touch the ground!"

Sans simply chuckled. "they're a goofy bunch, ain't they?"

* * *

After a while, Frisk tired himself out, and Chara had to stop to regain his bearings after being dragged along at high speeds. They had traveled for a few minutes. They had seen a few things on the way, like a fishing pole with a weird note addressing a phone number and a snowman that gave a piece of itself to Frisk and Chara to take on their journey, with the exception they bring it back after seeing the world.

"Phew!" Frisk gasped, "I need to really be running more often."

"Or less often, in my case." Chara argued, "Where are we, anyways?"

"I'm not really sure," Frisk replied, "but we could ask that guard station over there!"

Frisk pointed towards the guard station standing only a few feet beyond them. It looked empty from their viewpoint, but Frisk believe that a guard might be on duty. They walked up to the guard station, seeing that it had a few canine designs to it and a little bell.

"That's odd." Chara muttered.

"What's odd?"

"There's doggy biscuits on the ground," Chara replied to Frisk, "except they're all charred. As if someone put a flame to them."

"That is strange..." Frisk commented, ringing the bell on the guard station desk.

Suddenly, a canine-like figure appeared from behind the desk. It rose up into better view, where Frisk and Chara could see it. The figure was, in fact, a dog, but it was standing on its hind legs, wore a pink shirt with a white dog face, yellow leopard pants, and a black mask. It wielded two daggers, each glowing with an aqua-blue color.

"Um... excuse me, sir?" Frisk finally piped up.

The dog darted its eyes suspiciously, as if it were searching something. It seemed rather irritated and confused at the same time, making a low growl to further conclude its frustration.

"Did something just move?" the dog spoke, still darting its eyes, "If something did move, like a human..."

Frisk gulped. Chara simply watched the dog, waiting for its response.

"I'll make sure it never moves again!"

With that, Frisk's soul appeared, along with the four options. Frisk immediately selected the **[ACT]** button, selecting **Check** to examine his aggressor in front of him, who had drawn both his blades.

"Doggo"

ATK: 13

DEF: 6

"Easily excited by movement. Hobbies include: squirrels."

 _So, the trick is to not move,_ Frisk thought strategically, _well, that's easy._

Doggo readied his left blade, its blade still glowing aqua-blue. His eyes slightly fixated on Frisk.

"Don't move an inch if you're there!" Doggo growled.

Doggo swung his blade towards Frisk's position. Frisk didn't seem to be fazed by the attack. Chara, however, was a little panicked by Frisk's lack of reaction to the incoming attack.

"Move, Frisk!" Chara hollered, "You're going to get hurt-!"

The blade swung through Frisk's midsection. Chara covered his eyes and feared the worst. When he didn't hear any screams, Chara slowly uncovered his eyes and, to his shock, saw Frisk standing in the same spot, unharmed and unmoved.

Frisk quickly selected **[ACT]: Pet** , and ran up to Doggo, petting him on the head. Doggo suddenly went crazy, barking loudly and rolling around on the ground like an average dog.

"I've been pet! I've been pet!" Doggo yelled happily.

"Good boy!" Frisk giggled softly with joy. He selected **[MERCY]: Spare** , ending the fight. Doggo regained his composure, and regained his harden face, yet he was a little shocked.

"Something had pet me. Something t-that wasn't there!" Doggo said with a stern, yet worried tone, "I need more dog treats for this. I'm heading to Grillby's for a drink..."

Doggo waddled off towards what Frisk and Chara assumed was the town's direction. Chara was still in a bit of shock when Frisk had come out of the battle without a single scratch. Soon, he turned to Frisk, Chara's face turning into an angered face.

" **What was that, Frisk!?** " Chara gasped with anger and shock.

"What was what, Chara?" Frisk asked, unsure of Chara's worry, "Please elaborate on your statement."

"I mean, what's with you coming out of that encounter without harm!?" Chara yelled, eyes glowing slightly red, "I thought you got killed with that attack that Doggo used! He cut you with a knife!"

"Well," Frisk began, almost giggling, "I figured he checks for movements with that attack, so I didn't move. Besides, the Delta Tome clearly talks about **light-blue attacks** in its pages."

Chara raised a brow. "What?"

"Here, let me show you..." Frisk replied, grabbing the tome out of his pack. He flipped through the pages until he reached the desired page. He held the book to Chara's face.

" _When an enemy uses an attack that glows with an aqua color, follow this handy advice: do NOT move an inch! If you stand still, you will not be harmed by the attack. But so much as move a tiny bit, your HP will start dropping fast!_ "

Chara's face showed mild irritation. "Couldn't you have told me earlier before this happened!? I mean, it would save me from having a heart attack!"

"I tried to," Frisk replied sarcastically, "but you were knocked out."

" **Don't you sass me, boy!** " Chara hissed sharply.

Frisk simply smiled.

"Anyways," Chara stated sternly, grabbing Frisk by the wrist and dragging him down the town's direction, "we should get going!"

"You're such a grouch, you know that?" Frisk pouted teasingly as he was being dragged through the soft snow.

* * *

After walking for a while (or in Frisk's case, being dragged), the two boys found themselves face-to-face with Papyrus and Sans again. The two skeletons were standing just several feet from them, almost as if they were anticipating them, or rather Frisk, for a while. Papyrus's face was plastered with a gleeful smile, but Sans' face was still the same from the last meeting.

"AH! HUMAN!" Papyrus finally piped up, "WE MEET AGAIN!"

"Hello, Papyrus," Frisk spoke politely, looking around the snowy, open area, "so where's the puzzle I'm supposed to do? I don't seem to see it anywhere..."

"NYEH HEH HEH!" Papyrus snickered joyfully, "YOU ARE CORRECT, HUMAN! THE REASON THE PUZZLE CANNOT BE SEEN, IS BECAUSE THE PUZZLE IS INVISIBLE!"

Frisk and Chara's faces sported confusion.

"YOU SEE," Papyrus explained, "THIS PUZZLE IS CALLED THE INVISIBLE MAZE. YOU MUST MAKE IT TO THE OTHER SIDE OF THIS MAZE, THE ONE I'M STANDING ON."

"Seems fairly easy." Frisk commented, almost taking a small step forward.

"HOWEVER!" Papyrus suddenly exclaimed, "THERE IS A TWIST! YOU MUST NOT BUMP THE WALLS OF THIS MAZE! FOR IF YOU DO..." Papyrus paused for a moment, pulling out a blue orb. "...THIS ORB HERE WILL DELIVER A NASTY SHOCK! SO THE AMOUNT OF FUN YOU'LL HAVE IN THIS PUZZLE... IS ACTUALLY QUITE SMALL."

Frisk nodded in response. He took a deep breath, then stepped forward.

ZAP!

Frisk stopped dead in his tracks. He thought at first he'd been zapped by the walls, but then he looked over to Papyrus, who was charcoal black. He twitched slightly before shaking off the charcoal dust off himself.

"SANS!" Papyrus roared in frustration, "WHAT DID YOU DO TO THE PUZZLE!?"

"nothing, bro," Sans lazily replied, "except that you were holding the orb instead of having the human hold the orb."

Papyrus's skeletal face reddened with embarrassment at his mistake. "Y-YOU'RE RIGHT, BROTHER! I SHOULD OF THOUGHT OF THAT SOONER. SILLY ME!"

Papyrus strolled over to giggling Frisk, orb in hand. Chara noted the skeleton's movements, seeing that the skeleton was walking over to Frisk via the maze. He was giving away the answer.

"HERE, HUMAN," Papyrus said, placing the orb on Frisk's head, "HOLD THIS ORB!" Afterwards, Papyrus dashed back over to the other side, signaling Frisk to continue with the puzzle.

"Okay, wish me luck, Chara!" Frisk whispered to Chara.

"Whatever." Chara replied without a care.

Frisk, balancing the orb on his head, followed the tracks that Papyrus had left behind. At one moment, Frisk almost bumped into an invisible wall, and another where the orb almost fell off his head.

Eventually, Frisk made it to the end of the maze. He let out a sigh of relief. The maze was pretty intimidating, but Frisk kept moving through, not even daring to go back.

"CLEVER! YOU SLIPPERY SNAIL!" Papyrus exclaimed in surprise, "HUMAN, THIS PUZZLE WAS TOO EASY FOR YOU! I WILL CONTINUE FORWARD TO READY THE OTHER PUZZLES! BE PREPARED TO FACE THE NEXT PUZZLES! NYEH HEH HEH!"

While Papyrus ran off, Chara and Sans approached Frisk.

"you seem pretty calm and confident, kid." Sans noted.

"Do you not have any fear?" Chara asked.

"Well," Frisk replied, "I did have a little fear, but I shook the feeling off. It's best to not think of the fear and continue forward."

"If that's what you think, then," Chara replied back, grabbing Frisk's hand, "let's continue towards Snowdin."

"Alright," Frisk said, shaking his hand free, "let's go. See you later, Sans."

"alright. see ya, kid!" Sans waved as the two continued on their way.

* * *

After fifteen minutes of silence, of walking through the snowy paths, of cold wind blowing through the cavernous landscape, Frisk and Chara sat down to rest. Frisk and Chara had not spoken a word since the maze puzzle. Whenever one of them tried to speak, they stopped themselves before they uttered the first word out of their mouths.

Suddenly, Frisk's stomach growled. "I think it's time for a snack break." Frisk spoke softly to Chara.

Chara nodded back in response.

Frisk dug around in his pack. He grabbed the Monster Candy and a Spider Donut from his pack. He handed the donut to Chara and Frisk chomped on the Monster Candy.

As they finished their snacks, there was a sudden sigh coming from nearby. Frisk and Chara looked to their left. There, sitting a few feet away from the two boys, was a blue rabbit, wearing a yellow shirt and red overalls, was standing by some sort of food cart. The rabbit seemed greatly depressed by something, as its face was sporting a frown.

"What's up with him?" Chara asked.

"No clue," Frisk replied, "but I'm going to find out."

Frisk walked over to the rabbit, who's voice began to become clearer and louder as Frisk approached him.

"...No one seems to be buying any Nice Cream, even though it's the perfect place to sell them. Hmm... Maybe I should leave the Nice Cream business and go join the MTT Burgers staff..." the rabbit depressingly muttered.

"Um... excuse me, sir?" Frisk piped up, unsure if he should.

The rabbit looked up at Frisk. The immediate minute he saw Frisk, he beamed. "Well, hello there, sir!" the rabbit spoke, "You hear to get some Nice Cream?"

Frisk slightly cocked his head to the side, face sporting confusion. "What's Nice Cream, sir?"

"Well," the Nice Cream Guy explained, "it's like the monster version of ice cream, except it's still ice cream, but I call it 'the frozen treat that warms your heart'! Are you interested in buying some?"

Frisk nodded. "Sure, I'll take two Nice Cream sandwich bars, please!"

"Okay! Your total cost is 30G!"

Frisk dug into his pockets for the gold coins he earned in the Ruins. As he dug around, he began to look worried. He didn't feel the coins anywhere in his pockets. Then it hit him. He remembered that he placed the coins in a drawer in the Ruins, but he never grabbed them when he left.

"Oh no!" Frisk moaned, "I left my gold coins at Home..."

"Oh dear," the Nice Cream Guy replied worriedly, "that's not a nice predicament."

"May I inject?" a voice cooed nearby.

Frisk looked up and followed the voice's trail. Looking to his right, he noticed another monster. This monster looked like Toriel, except that the monster was smaller in size, had no horns, and wore a navy-blue dress, brown winter coat, and a indigo beret. She was holding a sort of stick in her left hand.

"I'll pay for his Nice Cream, sir." the monster spoke softly and politely, pulling out her gold pouch and digging out 45 gold coins, "And I would like a Nice Cream cone, sir."

The Nice Cream Guy took the girl's coins and gave Frisk and the monster their Nice Creams. He smiled joyfully. "Thanks, and have a wonderful day!" he spoke, almost in a whistling manner.

Frisk walked back over to Chara. He didn't notice the girl following him.

"Hey, Frisk," Chara piped up, pointing to the girl, "who's the monster?"

Frisk turned around, seeing the monster's face. Her light-blue eyes seemed to glitter like ice, yet her smile was warm and friendly. Frisk's face slightly reddened.

"Uh... um... h-hello." Frisk stuttered.

"Hello." the monster replied back.

"H-hey, um, thanks... for, uh, paying for my Nice Cream. I appreciate it."

Frisk staggered backwards when the monster girl came closer to his face. She seemed to study him intensely. Frisk felt as if he was being interrogated by an officer.

"You don't look like a monster I've seen before," the girl finally spoke, "are you a human from the Surface?"

Frisk nodded.

The monster's face beamed. "Wow! I've never seen an actual human before!" she exclaimed in wonder. "What's it like on the Surface? Are the humans more tolerant of monsters?"

Frisk cleared his throat. "Depends on your point of view. The majority of the adults are a little anxious around the monsters still, but when it comes to the kids, surprisingly, they actually don't believe monsters to be the creatures that eat bad children. They believe they are innocent souls forced into a prison because of some silly fear."

The monster girl was a little shocked, but not with fear, but with wonder. "That's so nice to hear that the children actually accept monsters!"

Frisk simply nodded.

"I'm guessing you came from the Ruins, correct?"

"Yes," Frisk replied, "and I met Miss Toriel. She's a very caring guardian."

"I know. She used to be a mother, you know." the monster girl replied back.

Frisk's face contorted into a confused face. "What do you mean?"

"She once had a child of her own, but I don't know what happened, as she never speaks of the child." the girl spoke, voice heavy with doubt.

Frisk was puzzled by this. Toriel had never told Frisk anything of a child, much less one of her own blood. She had six other human children before him stay with her, but a monster child? Not even a single hint.

"Anyways, she's my mentor in spells." the monster girl spoke with a more upbeat tone, "I can't use fire spells, but I can use wind spells and a few healing spells."

"That sounds great!" Frisk beamed, "Are you studying to become a spellcaster or a healer?"

"Both, but I want to learn more healing spells so that I can heal others, regardless if they're a monster or a human." the monster girl replied.

Suddenly, the monster girl realized something.

"Is something wrong?" Frisk asked, slight worry on his face.

"I'm so sorry!" the monster girl apologized, bowing her head a few times, "I forgot to properly introduce myself!"

Chara chuckled to the side, but Frisk shot a glare at him, stopping him.

The monster girl soon regained her composure. "My name's Maya, resident of Snowdin Village, and apprentice mage." She stuck out her hand in a greeting gesture, signaling for a handshake.

Frisk regarded the signal, grasping Maya's hand and shaking it lightly. "Pleased to meet you, Maya! I'm Frisk Young."

Chara soon whispered something to Frisk. "Ask her why she was here. It seems a little suspicious for her to suddenly be here on cue."

Frisk soon cleared his throat. "So, what brings you here out in this part of Snowdin Woods?"

"Miss Toriel had called me earlier." Maya replied, "She wanted me to see you escorted safely to Snowdin Village, before you head on your way back to the Surface."

"Well, it's a good thing we're heading to Snowdin," Frisk replied, "because I need to get into someplace warmer. This hoodie I'm wearing isn't doing much to protect me from the cold."

Stella nodded. "Shall we be on our way?" she asked, pointing towards the east, where Snowdin was.

"Okay," Frisk agreed, "but I need to grab my pack first."

Frisk ran over to his pack and Chara. He knelt down to grab his pack, while secretly signaling Chara to get a move on. Chara took the hint, standing up and walking towards the direction of Snowdin.

Frisk ran back over to Maya, and both started walking towards the wintry village of Snowdin.

* * *

Frisk, Chara, and their newest party member Maya, had traveled towards Snowdin for quite a while. During their trek, they encountered a few new creatures (at least to Frisk and Chara), encountered Papyrus and Sans once more for another puzzle (which really was nothing but a junior word search), and found some spaghetti frozen to a plate right afterwards (which they couldn't reheat or even eat).

After a while, they had gotten somewhere decent. They were almost to the next set of puzzles when an unexpected obstacle came into their path, something that not even Sans would probably see coming.

" **Well, this is an idiotic place to have spikes...** " Chara spoke in his second voice, before he spoke to Frisk normally, "Ask your new monster friend if these spikes were here earlier."

Frisk nodded subtly. He turned to Maya. "Hey, Maya, were these spikes here before?"

Maya shook her head. "No, they weren't." Maya puzzled at this for a bit. "Now why would this spikes be here all of a sudden?"

"Beats me." Frisk shrugged, "Could it be another puzzle?"

Maya's face brightened with a sudden idea. "I think that's the case, Frisk. I believe the Royal Guard instated these spikes just now, probably to catch you..." Maya concluded, "...or, at least, to hinder your progress towards Snowdin."

"If this is indeed a puzzle, like you suggest, Frisk," Chara added, "then there must be a solution nearby."

Frisk nodded. He turned to Maya, and gave her a determined look.

"Well, Frisk," Maya spoke, eyes searching the area, "let's find the switch to deactivate the spikes."

The two (or three, if counting Chara) began to search for anything that might be a switch... or at least a bit of a hint to find the solution. For a few minutes, they found no such clue. As they continued their search, Frisk noticed something in the snow. A big patch of snow that looked rather odd. The snow patch looked as if somebody had covered up something with snow rather poorly, for it made a raised, square-shaped indention.

"Hey, Maya," Frisk called, "I think I found something."

Maya rushed over to Frisk's location, who was pointing at the unusual snow patch.

"It might be covering the clue." Maya inferred.

The two got on the ground and began digging at the snow, while Chara watched from a few feet away. Soon, the snow revealed a sort of map. And it was a crude map of the current area of the woods they were in.

"Well, that's certainly helpful!" Frisk remarked, smiling with accomplishment.

"And the map must be pointing to the solution." Maya added, "Have a look!" Maya pointed to a red X on the map. It was surrounded by what Frisk and Chara inferred as trees.

"It's pretty close by," Chara whispered to Frisk, "so you can go and flip the switch for this road block, and we'll be back on our way to Snowdin."

Frisk nodded, then stood up. "Let's go find that switch, Maya."

Maya nodded back in response and stood up, and she and Frisk began their way towards the switch.

* * *

After backtracking towards the switch's assumed location, Frisk and Maya soon found themselves higher up of the hill overlooking the spike-trap below. It was sparsely decorated with trees. It seemed colder to Frisk up on the hill, but Maya didn't mind it, but Frisk assumed that was because she had fur covering her entire body.

"So, here we are," Frisk spoke up, searching the trees, "but I don't see the switch anywhere."

"Let's keep searching the trees," Maya replied with calm optimism.

For a few minutes, Frisk and Maya searched every tree in the spot where the switch was marked to be located. They searched the trees from root to trunk to branch to the tiniest leaf. All they ended up finding was snow falling on their heads or pine needles getting stuck in the fabric of their clothes. Frisk sighed with resigned defeat.

"Well, we at least tried." Maya commented, hoping to keep Frisk from losing confidence.

"Yeah," Frisk replied sullenly, "but the map was probably off, so we might have been searching the wrong area for quite some time. So, let's sit down and rest before continuing our search-."

Frisk stopped when he sat down. As he made contact with the ground, he heard a soft clicking sound from below. He stood up quickly searching for where the noise came from.

"Frisk, look!" Maya pointed at the spot Frisk had sat.

Frisk looked at the spot and, to his shock, saw a large button, partly buried by the snow, the switch that they had been searching for.

"Well, that was a bit of surprise." Frisk commented, "That felt a little too easy."

Maya nodded, but with a bit of anxiousness. "Yeah... TOO easy."

"What do you mean?" Frisk asked with curiosity.

"I mean, usually the Royal Guard's Canine Unit usually has their traps set up more complex than this," Maya elaborated, "unless they were making it easy to lure us into a bigger trap."

Frisk searched the immediate area, but saw nothing.

"I think you might be a little over your head," Frisk commented, "so let's not worry and continue on our way."

Frisk began to walk back towards Chara's location, humming happily. Maya began following close behind, yet rather slowly. The cold wind blew very suspiciously, which caused Maya to shiver.

"Frisk, I think we should return with caution." Maya advised, "I don't think that we're alone."

"Maya, please," Frisk reassured, "There's no one here-!"

Frisk stopped when a large whoosh appeared from behind a tree and stopped in front of Frisk. Frisk took one, long look at what was in front of him, eyes widening at what he saw. It was a white dog, slightly larger than Doggo, wearing armor and wielding both a sword and shield. Maya gasped.

"Frisk, be careful!" Maya shouted, "That's Lesser Dog, one of the Canine Unit's warriors!"

Frisk responded quickly, as he leapt backwards when he saw the dog knight swing its sword down where Frisk had stood only mere seconds ago. It barked happily like a normal dog, its derpy face staring playfully at its two targets. Frisk was more stunned than scared.

"That's a Royal Guard member!?" Frisk spoke with shock, "That's more like a normal dog with the intent to kill with a sword!"

"Well, we've got to get past him if we want to make it to Snowdin in one piece!" Maya replied.

Frisk gulped. He readied himself for combat as his soul reappeared. The dog began to raise its sword again, ready to strike once more.

"Frisk!" Maya yelled frantically.

Maya looked away, anxiously waiting for Frisk's pained screams. When she didn't hear anything, Maya looked over to where Frisk was, and was stunned to see Frisk petting Lesser Dog, who enjoyed the petting.

"That's... somewhat surprising." Maya spoke quietly.

Frisk continued petting Lesser Dog on the head, who barked with joy. Maya was greatly relieved that Frisk was safe and unharmed, yet was still a little shocked by Frisk's calm, yet friendly demeanor towards his opponent.

Eventually, Frisk chose **[MERCY]:** **Spare** on Lesser Dog, which allowed the dog knight to stand back up and leave towards the town, bouncing along happily after a few minutes of petting. Frisk chuckled at the dog's silliness, walking back over to Maya. Maya still had a bit of shock on her face, which made Frisk's eyebrows contort into a confused expression.

"Is something the matter, Maya?" Frisk asked with concern.

"No," Maya replied, "but how you managed to subdue Lesser Dog... by petting him... It caught me a little off-guard. No one has ever pet Lesser Dog before."

"Well, he's a dog, isn't he?" Frisk replied back, "I just did what most humans would do to reward or show fun to their dogs: petting! I did the same to Doggo, who was guarding the path near the Ruins."

Maya's eyes widened again. "You also pet Doggo!? How did you pet him without moving!?"

"That's a story for another day, my friend." Frisk replied back, almost smugly. He later reverted into a calm, concerned manner in tone, offering his hand to Maya. "We should get back on our way to Snowdin before dark... that is, if it does get dark down here."

Maya nodded, grabbing Frisk's hand. They both headed back towards the base of the hill, where Chara would be waiting, probably impatiently, for them, with the rising determination of reaching Snowdin safely.

* * *

Back down at the base of the hill, Chara was actually lost in thought. He had been pondering a few things, mainly the memories that had recently been hitting his mind. Chara found it weird that he knew Sans and Papyrus somehow, and yet he didn't remember even meeting them before. Or did he? He found them familiar to him, but where had he seen them before? His thoughts were put on hold when he noticed Frisk and Maya returning.

"Finally made it back, eh, Frisk?" Chara said half-sarcastically, smiling as he said that.

Frisk nodded subtly as not to draw suspicion from Maya. Frisk looked at the spikes. Sure enough, the spikes had been lowered, giving him and his friends access to head towards Snowdin again.

"Well, Frisk," Maya began, "looks like it'll be a straight path to Snowdin from here!"

"With the exception of Papyrus' puzzles." Frisk added in.

Chara quietly walked up to Frisk, leaning towards his right ear to whisper. "So, what took you guys?"

"We had a run in with a dog." Frisk whispered back subtly.

"Wait, do you mean that armored dog that just bounded through here just a minute ago?" Chara replied in curiosity.

"You saw it?" Maya asked, eyes slightly widening.

"Yeah, but it seemed to be enjoying itself. I wonder why?"

"That's a long story." Frisk replied, grin on his face.

Frisk cleared his throat and pointed towards the direction of Snowdin, taking a deep breath. "Let's move out!"

Maya giggled at Frisk's silliness. Frisk simply blushed out of embarrassment.

The three walked for a few steps, barely even exiting the current area before they had to stop in their tracks. A voice had boomed from just nearby, saying "Halt! Stay where you are!" The party had froze to the spot, not even moving. Frisk became concerned.

"What's the holdup now?" Frisk asked Maya.

"I don't know." Maya replied, sincerely unsure.

Suddenly, two figures walked up to the small party. The figures were clothed in black robes, hoods covering their faces. Both were carrying giant axes, blades big enough to slice a Froggit in two. The figures seemed a little weird to Frisk, but he couldn't really tell why, mainly because the figures were cloaked from almost head to toe in black robes.

"Do you smell that, sister?" one of the figures suddenly spoke, the voice masculine.

"Yes, brother. What is that smell?" the other spoke, its voice feminine.

Frisk shuddered a little. These figures were more menacing than even Doggo, which made Frisk a little uneasy. However, Frisk wasn't going to let himself get scared to death by some axe blades.

"If you're a smell..." the masculine figure spoke threateningly.

"...then identify yoursmelf!" the feminine figure added.

The two figures began to wander around the small proximity of the area, sniffing the air, which Maya and Chara found weird. They sniffed the snow, sniffed the trees, and even themselves. Eventually, they sniffed Maya, which made Frisk afraid and greatly uncomfortable. He thought they would attack her. The figures stopped sniffing Maya, shaking their heads.

"This is a monster." the masculine voice began.

"Attack withheld." the feminine replied back. "Yet there is another smell."

The two soon approached Frisk. Frisk began to sweat some, his heart racing. The axes seemed to stare straight into his eyes, trying to taunt him. The two figures sniffed Frisk for a minute, then reeled back.

"Here's the smell." both the figures spoke.

"It makes me want to eliminate." the masculine voice spoke alone.

Frisk readied himself for the incoming encounter.

"...Eliminate you!" the feminine voice spoke, swinging her axe at Frisk.

Frisk was pushed to safety by Maya, barely avoiding being even grazed by the blade of the axe. Frisk's soul reemerged, signifying the start of a fight. Frisk stood back up and faced his opponents, eyes burning with determination.

"Frisk," Maya called, her soul having appeared as well, hers being white, "I'm unfamiliar with these monsters. I've never met them before, so their attacks are a mystery to me."

Frisk selected **[ACT]: Check** to identify the enemies. The check yielded only this result:

"?"

"No data available"

 _This is not helping,_ Frisk thought anxiously. He knew that, without any knowledge of his enemy, he couldn't find a way to spare them. The figures both lunged at the human boy, who managed to roll out of the way. When Frisk stood back up, he noticed something. The two figures were sniffing the air again, but in confusion.

"What's that new smell?" the feminine figure asked.

"I'm not sure." the masculine voice replied.

Both figures soon began sniffing the air, pulling off their hoods. In doing so, Frisk suddenly let out a small smile of relief. The figures turned out to be dogs again, both white in color. One had a fluff of hair on their head, sported thick brows, and had something similar to a mustache on its muzzle; Frisk believed this to be the male figure. The other one, the female, was missing the features of the male, instead having feminine eyelashes.

"I smell two things, sister," the male spoke once more, "a scent of a puppy and a scent of a human."

"Which one is it? It can't be both." the female dog replied back.

 _I think I've figured out their strategy,_ Frisk thought bravely. He selected his **[ACT]** button, and scanned the commands. He found and selected the **Roll** command. In doing so, Frisk dropped to the ground and began rolling around on the ground.

Chara groaned in disappointment at the sight of Frisk playing during a battle.

"Um, Frisk?" Maya asked, confused at Frisk's rolling around in the dirt, "Why are you rolling around on the ground? You're going to get your clothes all dirty, and you might make yourself cold from the snow-!"

"Trust me on this." Frisk replied back.

Frisk rolled around for a little more, seeing the dogs begin to smell the air even more. Soon, Frisk stood up and selected the **Re-sniff** command, beckoning the dogs to come sniff him over once more. The dogs heeded, strolling over to Frisk. They sniffed him all over, eyes widening when they finished sniffing him again.

"No way! Can it be...?"

"Are you actually a small puppy?"

Maya and Chara's jaws fell at the sight of Frisk being considered a puppy by two dogs by simply rolling around in the dirt and having the dogs sniff him over a second time. Before Frisk did anything else, he selected **[ACT]: Check** one more time to get any new information on the two dogs.

"Dogamy and Dogaressa"

ATK: 14

DEF: 5

"Both rely on their smells to determine threats."

"That's more like it." Frisk whispered to himself. He turned to the dogs, who were looking at each other and talking in confusion over Frisk's new smell as a little puppy. Frisk took this chance to use his advantage against the dogs!

"Huh?" Dogamy suddenly barked, caught off-guard by Frisk petting his head. "What's going on here?"

Frisk switched dogs and began to pet Dogaressa, who also began to bark in confusion over Frisk's petting. "A puppy that pets dogs? How adorable!" she spoke, eyes glittering like stars.

"Yep!" Frisk responded to both dogs, "I'm a puppy that pets other dogs!"

Frisk selected **[MERCY]: Spare** , thus ending the fight. The two dogs were still in shock over "the weird puppy petting them," but eventually made their way back towards Snowdin, allowing the party of three to take a rest.

"Wow, Frisk!" Maya gasped in wonder, "You humans are something else! They even succumbed to your petting as well?"

"Well, again, they are dogs," Frisk replied calmly, "and dogs are meant to be pet!"

Chara was unable to say anything, as he was still in mild shock.

"I guess you can call me 'The Pacifist!'" Frisk said, making a silly pose.

Maya laughed at the sight of Frisk being silly. Though he rolled his eyes, Chara hid a small smile.

"Anyways," Frisk began again, "we should get a move on." Frisk pointed again towards Snowdin and began marching in that direction. Maya and Chara followed shortly thereafter.

* * *

The party of three continued their journey, encountering a few extra puzzles on the way. They met up once more with Papyrus, who had become curious if Frisk had tried his spaghetti. Frisk figured that the tall skeleton meant the frozen spaghetti awhile back.

"Yes," Frisk said kindly, "and it was delicious."

The tall skeleton was so pleased by the comment that the skeleton dashed off to the next big puzzle for Frisk and his small band. Maya asked Frisk why he had lied about the spaghetti. Frisk had simply responded that he didn't want to upset Papyrus' feelings.

The group eventually reached the area where Papyrus had his second "human-trapping" puzzle. On one side, Frisk, Chara, and Maya were all standing together. On the other side, Papyrus and Sans were waiting next to some box-shaped, bulky machine. In the area between the two sides, the floor was made of various gray-scale tiles.

"NYEH HEH HEH!" Papyrus chuckled once more. "HUMAN! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WELCOME YOU TO THE DREADED 'COLORED-TILED MAZE'!"

Frisk sported a confused look. He turned to Maya and Chara.

"Anyone know what he means?"

Maya shook her head.

"The puzzle doesn't sound familiar, so I'm clueless." Chara added in.

"IN THIS PUZZLE, EACH TILE HAS A FUNCTION OF ITS OWN!" Papyrus explained. For the next three minutes, he explained each function of the tiles: pink was passable, red was impassible, yellow gave off electricity, green made a sound to summon a monster battle, orange gave a orange scent, purple was slippery and gave a lemon scent, and blue was water, only passable if you didn't have the orange scent or it wasn't next to a yellow tile.

"GOT ALL OF THAT, HUMAN?" Papyrus asked.

"I forget," Chara said to Frisk, "Is it safe to have orange scent or lemon scent to cross the piranha-infested water tiles?"

"Just hold a moment." Frisk whispered back.

"NOW," Papyrus added, "THIS PUZZLE IS MADE MORE DREADFUL... BY THE FACT THAT THE PUZZLE IS ENTIRELY RANDOM!"

" **That sounds rather idiotic.** " Chara muttered, voice deepening for a second.

"I WILL ACTIVATE THIS MACHINE NEXT TO ME," Papyrus added, gesturing to the box-shaped machine, "AND THE PUZZLE WILL BE GENERATED. GOOD LUCK, HUMAN! ...YOU WILL PROBABLY NEED IT."

" **And that's just making this FUTILE!** " Chara complained, voice going even more demonic.

"BE PREPARED, HUMAN!" Papyrus stated with flair, "FOR I'M ABOUT TO ACTIVATE. THE. PUZZLE!"

Papyrus went to the machine and flipped some switches. Immediately, the grey-scale floor lit up with color and began to scramble itself. As the puzzle scrambled itself, the trio watched the floor change into a rainbow of various colors. Eventually, the colors began to scramble faster. Then, the puzzle stopped scrambling. All five witnesses looked at the new floor. All the tiles were red, except for a path straight to the other side made of pink tiles.

"Um... That's interesting?" Frisk said with confusion.

"Yeah..." Maya replied, also with confusion.

" **Is that really the idiotic puzzle!?** " Chara said demonically, before shifting to normal, "I've seen better puzzles than this from you, Papyrus!"

Papyrus didn't hear Chara, but he didn't hear the others either. He was in shock at the easy solution presented. He was so shocked, he simply walked away from the scene. Sans simply chuckled.

"Well, that was something." Sans spoke.

"That was not the kind of solution I was expecting," Frisk replied, "but I'll take it."

"All right!" Maya proclaimed, pointing towards the direction of Snowdin, "let's continue!"

The trio crossed the "maze" and continued their long trek to Snowdin. Unfortunately, they were unaware of the dangers that laid ahead, waiting to attack them before they reached Snowdin.

* * *

Frisk, Chara, and Maya encountered more obstacles in their way to Snowdin, mainly a deer-like creature called Gyftrot, who attacked them, but Frisk and Maya found that others had placed things on Gyftrot's antlers, and they both took the things off, leaving a small gift to Gyftrot afterwards. They also noticed various snow sculptures made by Lesser Dog, all with their necks broken because they were too long. They also solved one more puzzle as well.

Soon, the trio encounter an open area with a small doghouse and some snow poffs.

"Okay, Frisk," Maya spoke up with glee, "we're almost to Snowdin!"

"Yay!" Frisk cheered.

"Hallelujah!" Chara said with relief.

"We just need to cross this area and a bridge, and we'll be home free." Maya added.

"That's not too bad." Frisk replied.

"Indeed." Chara added.

They walked across the open area, everyone looking at each snow poff.

"I wonder why there's so many snow poffs..." Frisk asked.

"I believe it would be because of Greater Dog." Maya replied.

"Greater Dog?" Frisk and Chara both questioned.

"He's the Canine Unit's strong arm, but he's really playful!" Maya elaborated.

"I don't see him." Frisk said, searching the area.

"Let's hope we don't run into Greater Dog." Maya stated, "If we run into him, we might be in some trouble."

As soon as the three reached the end of the area, voices boomed from in front of them.

"Hello again, intruder!"

Frisk, Chara, and Maya all stopped dead in their tracks and shivered. Looking in front of them, they saw Doggo, Dogamy, Dogaressa, and Lesser Dog all standing in a group. Doggo was in front of the group.

"Um, hello?" Frisk said cautiously, not wanting to start up a fight.

"We've been fooled by your petting, human!" Doggo stated, his arms crossed.

"And we don't take kindly to it." Dogamy added.

"In fact, we felt like suckers!" Dogaressa chimed in.

Lesser Dog simply barked, truthfully unaware of the group's anger.

"I'm not trying to cause problems, guys!" Frisk replied, "I'm just trying to get to Snowdin!"

"Yes, please!" Maya defended, "Let Frisk into Snowdin!"

The group, save Lesser Dog, shook their heads.

"No can do, little Maya," Doggo replied, "he's a threat, and we failed to do our jobs. So now, we're calling our heavy into the field."

"Oh no..." Maya said, eyes filled with dread.

"That's not good." Chara stated.

Frisk simply was in silence, his eyes filled with determination.

Doggo smirked and let out a large whistle. The whistle echoed for quite a while. Chara looked around, but didn't see anything appear that looked anything like a dog.

"Maybe Greater Dog didn't hear the whistle?" Chara replied to Frisk.

Frisk shook his head. "No, I think he did."

Suddenly, a snow poff to the group's right popped open. A white dog's head appeared from the snow, barking happily.

"Aww, what a cute dog!" Chara said, eyes glittering.

However, the snow poff fell apart as the dog began to rise. In a matter of seconds, the dog was revealed to be a large, heavily-armored behemoth wielding a giant spear.

Chara's eyes shrank. "Um, can I take that back?"

"Good luck, human!" Doggo laughed, "You'll need lots of it!"

Frisk and Maya's souls reappeared and the battle began. Frisk and Maya both chose to skip their turn. Greater Dog took his chance and stomped towards the two, tail wagging behind him. Frisk and Maya jumped out of the way, Frisk barely missing the spear's tip.

"This isn't going to take some petting to end this fight," Frisk yelled to Maya, "we'll need to find another way to stop him!"

"How?" Maya asked.

Frisk shrugged before he ducked out of the way of Greater Dog's attack.

 _Dangit!_ Chara thought, as he watched the two others fight, _I need to help them find Greater Dog's sparing point... but how?_

Chara then eyed a large stick, lying just inches from his feet. That's when he got a light bulb lighting up in his head. He picked up the stick and threw it to Frisk.

"Catch the stick, Frisk!" Chara alerted.

Frisk saw the stick flying towards him, and caught it. When he did, he was unsure of why Chara had thrown it. When he saw Greater Dog bounding toward him, Frisk knew why.

"Hey, Greater Dog!" Frisk shouted at Greater Dog.

The armored canine looked over to Frisk, who had selected **[ACT]: Play**.

"Go, fetch!" Frisk shouted, throwing the stick away from him and the others.

Greater Dog caught sight of the stick and bounded towards it. He caught the stick with his teeth, and bounded back towards Frisk, tail wagging with happiness and energy.

"Good boy!" Frisk said, selecting **[ACT]: Pet**.

Everyone watched with utter shock as Frisk petted the largest dog in the world. Greater Dog liked the petting so much, that the canine fell asleep for a bit, but then it woke up. Eventually, Greater Dog decided not to fight anymore. Frisk selected **[MERCY]** to end the battle, which allowed Greater Dog to bound off towards Snowdin, Lesser Dog following close behind.

Brushing off the snow on his clothes, Frisk approached the others.

"No way!" Dogamy exclaimed.

"He petted even the mighty Greater Dog!" Dogaressa added.

"Maybe this human is peaceful?" Doggo stated, "Aw, let's go back to Grillby's. We need a lot of doggy treats to get over this!"

One by one, the others of the Canine Unit left. Maya and Chara walked back over to Frisk.

"Man, Frisk," Chara began, "you sure are one brave kid!"

"You even managed to subdue even Greater Dog?" Maya stuttered with amazement, "You humans are more wonderful than I've ever imagined!"

Frisk nodded. He turned to Chara. "Thanks for the stick! If it wasn't for you, I would have been skewered by that dog's spear!"

"No problem." Chara replied.

"Alright, then!" Frisk said with enthusiasm, "Let's head on to Snowdin!"

* * *

The group approached the bridge to Snowdin, which was an old, wooden rope bridge, and the final stretch to Snowdin. The group was tired, but they all felt accomplished.

"Ready to enter Snowdin, Frisk?" Maya asked.

"You bet I am!" Frisk replied.

The three began their trek across the bridge. Frisk was out in front, Maya in the middle, and Chara in the back. They were almost across the bridge when a familiar chuckle was heard nearby.

"Papyrus!?" Frisk said, seeing the tall skeleton and his stout brother in front of him.

"YES, HUMAN!" Papyrus exclaimed with flair, "IT IS I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS! AND I'M HERE WITH YOUR FINAL TRIAL!"

"Trial?" Maya asked, "Don't you mean puzzle, Mr. Papyrus?"

"NO, LITTLE MAYA!" Papyrus explained, "THIS IS MORE THAN JUST A PUZZLE! WITNESS THE GAUNTLET OF TERROR!"

Suddenly, a large spear, a cannon, an axe, a ball-and-chain, flames, and a dog on a rope (don't even ask) appeared from all sides of the bridge.

"Woah!" Frisk said, stumbling backwards.

" **Now that's just overkill, Papyrus!** " Chara yelled angrily.

"NYEH HEH HEH!" Papyrus chuckled, "HUMAN, WHEN I SAY THE WORD, THIS TRAP WILL ACTIVATE! FLAMES WILL BURN! BLADES WILL SWING! AND YOU MUST PASS THESE TO REACH ME!"

"Mr. Papyrus, this is unnecessary!" Maya yelled.

"GET READY, HUMAN! BECAUSE. I. AM. ABOUT. TO. ACTIVATE. THE. TRAP!"

Silence followed, and nothing moved. Only a cough was heard, and it was from Sans.

"what's the holdup, bro?" Sans asked, grinning even bigger.

"HOLDUP!?" Papyrus yelled back, "THERE IS NO HOLDUP! I'M ABOUT TO ACTIVATE IT!"

Another round of silence followed. Nothing happened.

"uh, that doesn't look, um, activated..." Sans replied.

"WELL," Papyrus explained, "THIS TRAP, AS LITTLE MAYA SAYS, IS UNNECESSARY. IT'S NOT IN MY STANDARDS FOR PUZZLES! I LIVE FOR PUZZLES, BUT WITH A SENSE OF HONOR! AWAY WITH THIS TRAP!"

Soon, all of the contraptions disappeared, and the trio let out a sigh of relief.

"DON'T THINK YOU'VE WON, HUMAN! I WILL DEFEAT YOU! NYEH HEH HEH!" With that said, Papyrus took off once more.

The trio finished crossing the bridge, meeting up with Sans.

"you lot seem to be pretty beat after a long journey." Sans stated, looking at the frazzled party, "to be honest, i was worried you guys wouldn't make it."

"It's okay to worry, Sans," Maya said, "as long as it doesn't cause stress. Worrying too much can be stressful."

"yeah, kid, you're right." Sans replied, "in fact, i should've learned a thing or two from frisk."

"Huh?" the three asked, confusion on their faces once more.

"i saw all of your progress while i wasn't need by papyrus." Sans explained, "and i saw how frisk braved all of the obstacles thrown at him, whether it was the canine unit or pap's puzzles."

"You were stalking us!?" Chara asked.

"It was nothing, Sans." Frisk stated.

"ah, don't be so modest on yourself, kid." Sans replied smugly. "anyways, i want to give you something. think of it as a reminder of your courage and determination through snowdin forest."

Sans pulled out a pair of deep red-pink boxing gloves, which looked a bit worn, yet still mint condition at the same time. The gloves also had an orange heart design on the center of each glove. Frisk grabbed them from Sans' bony hands and inspected them.

"Boxing gloves?" Chara asked.

"Boxing gloves, hm?" Frisk said, "That's seems to be a good match to the trait of Bravery."

"Oh, so those gloves are called boxing gloves?" Maya asked, pointing to the gloves.

Suddenly, Frisk's backpack glowed once with an orange color.

"I think the Delta Tome has new information, Frisk," Maya pointed out.

Frisk grabbed the Delta Tome from his pack and opened it. The orange light wrote out a new passage, which read:

" _Bravery. A human with this trait will have an orange soul. A brave one's special ability is to move constantly, going forward. The Tough Gloves are the second of the Six Relics, left by the second of the six fallen humans. The Tough Gloves' strength is measured by the bravery of its wearer, who moves toward fear to conquer it. These were used by Sue, a brave girl who was a great fighter. Her soul's strong point was Snowdin, where the Tough Gloves rested._ "

Frisk closed the tome and placed it and the Tough Gloves in his pack. "Well, we have two Relics under our belt. Just four more to go."

"So, Patience and Bravery have been rekindled." Maya noted.

"Which one is next?" Chara asked.

"I'm not sure which Relic is next," Frisk replied, "but I know that we'll encounter them soon. For now, let's head into Snowdin. We'll need to rest up before we continue our journey to Waterfall."

The group agreed, said their good-byes to Sans, and proceeded into Snowdin. As Frisk walked into the snowy burg, he began to remember another friend of his from the Surface. One that fits the Tough Gloves' ability.

* * *

 **SURFACE - 2 YEARS AGO**

* * *

 _Frisk's life at school and home was getting better, thanks to his new friend, Alice. For the past three weeks, he learned to be patient and not let the bullies' taunting get the best of him. Thanks to Alice, Frisk had learned Patience._

 _But today was different. Alice had to take a leave of absence due to coming down with a cold. Frisk was left in unfamiliar territory again, all alone. Even though he learned to be patient, Frisk's confidence waned when Alice wasn't around. Frisk felt like he was left in the open, ready to be attacked when his guard was completely down. However, he wasn't truly alone, for another soul would come to his aid._

 _At lunchtime, Frisk had decided to eat outside in the walled outdoor lunch area. The tables in the lunchroom were filled with people that were busy with clubs, ignored Frisk's request to sit with them, or shoved him away. Outside, he ate with some of the kids who were also rejected from the tables._

 _As Frisk sat down by one of the walls to eat, he heard voices nearby that made him cringe._

 _"Hey there, Stripes!" Terrence's voice boomed._

 _"Hey, it's Frisk!" another bully taunted, "And look, his girl-friend, Fire Hair, is gone today, so he's all alone!"_

 _Frisk stood up and backed up against the wall, knowing he was trapped._

 _"And don't think that you'll pull that patience stuff on us!" one of the bullies grinned evilly._

 _"Yeah, we'll just beat you up, no matter how long you take the abuse!" Terrence boomed._

 _"P-Please! Don't hit me!" Frisk screamed, cowering into a seated position on the ground, face buried in his knees._

 _The bullies laughed out loud._

 _"Look at that! Frisky is cowering finally!"_

 _"He's such a wimp!"_

 _"No wonder no one likes him!"_

 _"Alright, guys!" Terrence commanded, "Let's show him our little gift: my fists in his face!"_

 _"N-n-no! Please don't!" Frisk screeched._

 _Terrence ignored Frisk's pleas, balled his hands into fists, and proceeded to punch him in left cheek, then in the stomach, then the right arm, and finally the nose. By then, Frisk's nose was bleeding, he had bruises on his right arm and left cheek, and his stomach pained from the punch. He was shivering from fear and tears streaked down his face._

 _"One more punch, guys?" Terrence asked his cronies._

 _They all shook their heads in agreement._

 _"Hey, Frisk," Terrence warned, stern look on his face, "you better hope you have a good dentist, because I'm about to knock those teeth right out of your ugly mug!"_

 _"Nooo! Somebody help!" Frisk cried out, covering his face with his arms._

 _"But nobody came!" Terrence chuckled evilly._

 _Frisk shut his eyes tight as Terrence's fist came barreling towards his face. He waited for the impact, but he never felt it. But he did hear footsteps running quickly towards him and the bullies. Then, a massive collision of a fist to a face, but it wasn't Frisk face nor Terrence's fist._

 _"Oof!" Terrence said, as he fell to the ground hard._

 _Frisk managed to open his eyes, seeing Terrence getting up, his left cheek also bruised. He turned to where the punch came from, and what he saw was another kid, similar in age to him. This kid was a boy of Asian descent. His hair black and shaggy, and had a wide build on his body, but only three inches wider than Frisk. He wore an orange bandanna around his head, and the bandanna had a picture of a fist on it. His eyes were fixated on Terrence, and his teeth glared with rage._

 _"What kind of kids pick on a defenseless boy like that!?" the boy yelled, fists raised in battle formation, "That's just sickening, but also totally a disadvantage of the opponent!"_

 _"Big words, kid!" Terrence growled as he stood up, "But you just got yourself into a death wish!"_

 _At that moment, all of the bullies, seven in total, approached on the boy, each one having fists ready. In a flash, the boy kept moving in and out of the group. The boy laid punches to each bully, knocking one to the ground and jumping to the next one. Frisk watched as this boy was helping him, dealing with each tormentor with ease._

 _Soon, all of the bullies retreated, each one taunting back at Frisk and the boy. When they were gone, the boy turned to Frisk and approached him. His anger faded and was replaced with an expression of concern._

 _"Hey, you okay?" the boy asked, offering a hand to Frisk._

 _"Yeah, I'm fine," Frisk reassured, taking the boy's hand and standing back up, "just a few bruises and nose-bleed, but I should be fine."_

 _"Here, let's get you cleaned up." the boy said, leading Frisk inside and to the bathrooms._

 _In the bathrooms, Frisk cleaned his face with a wet paper towel and some soap. Eventually, all of the blood on his face was cleaned off, but his nose felt a little tender._

 _"Better?" the boy asked._

 _"Yep." Frisk replied, "Thanks for helping me."_

 _"No problem!" the boy exclaimed, "I heard you call for help, and when I saw those guys punching you, I ran up and dealt with them. I can't stand someone harming someone out of no reason!"_

 _"It's okay," Frisk said calmly, "I've dealt with them before, thanks to help from Alice."_

 _The boy's eyes widen as he heard Alice's name. "Did you say Alice?"_

 _Frisk nodded, confusion on his face._

 _"I know Alice, the red-haired girl." the boy said, "She's really caring, but also calm. I've known her since I moved here in pre-school. That means you're that Frisk kid that she told me about."_

 _"Yes, my name is Frisk." Frisk replied, slightly bowing his head._

 _"Nice to meet you, Frisk! My name's Garrett!" the boy said, pointing to himself._

 _"Same!" Frisk replied._

 _"You know, Frisk," Garrett stated, scratching the back of his head, "you seem to know patience well, but standing still doesn't always work."_

 _"It doesn't?" Frisk asked, his eyes full of wonder._

 _Garrett nodded his head. "Sometimes, you have to be brave! You've got to keep moving, to move forward to face your fear and conquer it! That doesn't mean go and punch people like I did. I mean, you have to take action, like going to inform a teacher."_

 _Frisk nodded his head in understanding. "Thanks, Garrett! It's nice to meet a new friend!"_

 _"Same here!" Garrett said, shaking hands with Frisk. "Now, let's get you to the nurse. You need those injuries check out."_

 _And with that, as two new friends walked towards the nurse's office, Frisk began to feel more determined about the future ahead._

* * *

 _ **AUTHOR'S NOTE**_

Whew! This chapter was a long one! Sorry if it took a while to post, folks!

So, I've put off this chapter for way too long. Mainly because I lost motivation a lot, but with summer vacation here for me, I should be able to get things moving along. Also, the length of this chapter made it hectic for me to write. The next chapter won't be so long, since it'll focus on the battle with Papyrus. Also, we'll be taking a break from the Six Relics questline for two chapters, resuming it when we begin the Waterfall arc of the story.

FRISK: I can't wait for the next chapter!

ZEPHYR: Woah! Who let you in here?

SANS: you left the door open.

FLOWEY: You're such an idiot!

CHARA: Get out of here, Flowey!

MAYA: See you readers next chapter!

 _ **ZephyrBlu:** **"Is it just cold in here or what? Oh wait, we're in Snowed-In!"**_


	4. Story Moved to Deviantart!

**Author's Note:** Hey, everyone. man, it has been over a year, I mean one freaking year, since I updated this story, and there is a reason to this: this story is not continuing... at least not here on Fanfiction.

What I mean, is that this Undertale fan-fiction is turning into a fan-comic that will be posted on my Deviantart account, and it will be written from scratch, or at least 90% percent of the content. The comic also has a new title: **_UNDERTALE: Silver Promise_**. While the comic will not start posting pages until July 22nd, I will be posting some small sketches and sneak-peeks at the comic's first pages or things to expect.

 **THINGS THAT ARE CHANGING IN THE COMIC:**

 **-** Frisk's adoptive brother, Jacob, has been reworked into a brother actually related to him and his name is now Brandon. Frisk's new last name is Ross. Brandon is still Jacob in personality, but has been vastly reworked. Frisk is also changed from being 8 years old to 10.  
 **-** New Plot Device: Frisk's hair is now silver-grey when he falls into the Underground. Why this happens will be explained when the comic is live. But it will have a significant role in Frisk's character and adventure.  
 **-** Frisk has his titular stick, as the slingshot has been removed. The sword in the fan-fiction will return, but how it will return has yet to be figured out.  
 **-** The Delta Tome may be either removed or changed in some way.

THINGS THAT WILL REMAIN THE SAME:

 **-** The character Maya, the goat monster with wind magic, will be returning. I have a design for her, but I'm reworking it. She will return and will be better written.  
 **-** Chara will still be a ghost, but will have some changes. For example, his moments of going berserk and his voice becoming demonic will be changed, but will still be around, though less prominently.  
 **-** The memory sequences of Chara and Frisk will return, but changed in some fashion. Their roles are also modified.  
 **-** Frisk and Chara will still team up with more characters, but they have yet to be fully announced. Only Maya and Monster Kid are the currently announced partners.  
 **-** The Relics/Fallen Humans' weapons and possibly armors will return, but will trigger memory sequences for Frisk and maybe Chara. Their significance is also changed.  
 **-** Frisk still has the backpack.

If you want to follow me on Deviantart or wish to see this story continue, here is my Deviantart username: Zephyr-of-the-Winds

That's all folks! See you around later!


End file.
